The Triforce of the Gods
by Tenial
Summary: A young boy who feels out of place must go on a quest to save the very village he feels disenchanted from. He will face many enemies, some bigger than life itself, but he must fight to save what little he has in this world- from darkness. Based on OoT.
1. Prologue I

**_Prologue_**

_"I walked, and my people parted ways for my arrival, reverently bowing their heads to me as was the custom- towards me, their noble king. _

_"My carriers set my carriage down to the pavement and I stepped out from it, leaning upon my scepter to ease the pain of prior wars in my leg. As I stepped out, my eyes gazed upon the majesty that was Nendairenost, the Ageless Stone, the temple to withstand all time, built in commemoration of my father, King Falban, and of his best friend, Runikarr, the leader of the stone-men called the Gorons, who swore to protect the lands against the moblins during the third Moblin War. This temple was built to tighten the relationship between my people and the Gorons, officially contracting an alliance between the two races._

_"Now, I am not a superstitious man and am merely a king whose faith resides in the eternal will of the Gods and in the will of the people, but I sensed the magic of this sacred hall. Ask me not how, journal, for no words described the... spirituality I suddenly felt, resonating from the rock like a voice. Love crafted this place, love and fellowship, and so this temple would stand to serve as the house of the Gods. Soon my attention was being sought for by a being approaching me, my eyes descending from the tall temple's spire to recognize Darfnur, the man-rather, Goron-who built the temple. Appreciation exchanged in our eyes, we shook hands and expressed gratitude with thanks and promises of an alliance. Then my eyes drifted back to the doors of the temple, wondering what wonders would remain behind them as long as my people remained in this city, in this golden age, in this promising time period._

_"And yet the words of my father cause me to hesitate on celebration: 'As happy as the child may be to be swaddled in comfort, as content as the old man is sitting in a chair outside his house, as pleased as the master may be to see his house in full bloom, all of us will never let go of the shine of gold in our eye. Our office is to conceal that shine, yet even _we_ cannot fight temptation forever.'"_

_-Lord Aran Ben-Falban, High King of Hyrule, Rajulyule 9th, 945 AS._

* * *

The great temple stood in silence. Night had become the sun's dormancy, cascading upon the world the semblances of Lune and Hyldar, the Moon and Stars, and Mudé, the Void between Hyldar. Along with these lights in the darkness of the sky, Lune brought fatigue and slumber upon the world to lay down and rest for another day. Some residents in the city toiled, for the sorrows of the day still lingered in the hearts and dreaded tomorrow's pain, while their children slumbered in the room next to theirs, oblivious to their wails of 'taxes' and 'more taxes.'

The great temple remained silent. Time had passed over these old walls for so long that its origin and significance decayed with the people's memory. New matters took precedence over tradition, it seemed, for many now regarded the temple as a memoir of the past; some say it merely stood only to remark the political bond between the Hylia and the Gorons. Others remained on a more seditious mind, that the temple was to conserve a dying religion. They said it might as well be torn down for it serves no purpose but to decorate the city with history. Replace it with another marketplace, or a bazaar, they say; bring more business to match the rising price of stock.

Yet the temple stood. And tonight he hoped his vigilance would ensure it would remain that way.

He chose to stay behind after the auspices, at which only a few faithful citizens attended. Some _did_remember after all, perhaps! Such faith was a relief to him, for Rauru was a servant of the Gods and only wished such loyalty would spread amongst the hearts of the Hylia.

But among the few that attended, he sensed a presence. Someone had brought it in somehow, unbeknown to him before the service began, and did not take it back out after it concluded. It was not the threads of a bad day, nor a mere troubled spirit. The desire of... power... ranked with it. The intentions of utter evil rang out from the shadows of the temple.

It lingered like a foul stench, like a spectral guest.

That was why he prepared for it. He stood sentinel, like a warrior of the Gods, with his staff in his aged, plump fingers.

Gods, he never knew he would ever have to return to such actions. Never again, not after the 100 Years Strife.

He waited. He waited for the devil to come to this sacred place.

Then he found himself gazing upon its structures again, its aged walls of stone and rock, the stained glass windows with figures of the past illumined by Lune, the tapestry with the majestic icons of his people in bright blue and red colors, the checked floor which many had trod upon for generations, who had filled the pews, which in two columns began at the front entrance up to the very altar, for hundreds of years. Would he be seeing these walls for the last time?

When the temple was built, something special had happened the day it was finally erected. Rauru knew it, not just from seeing the mutual thanks between Hylian and Goron through handshakes and eye-contact. Rauru knew it, not from the many generations who had slowly went away from worship yet with few remaining. Rauru knew it, not from being its pastor since its inception.

Rauru only wished the people could hear them, those who had died in the name of the Gods. Their voices echoed in his mind like a chorus, heavenly, as if the hosts of the Sanctumund were present to sing for all time.

Amid in his thoughts, there shot a loud clang in the air, at the other side of the temple: at the door. At once, his mind cleared. In one hand he gripped his wooden staff tightly, and in the other he clenched in a tight fist. Sweat beaded on his bald forehead and down to his collar, his eyes intensely gazing through the empty space before him.

The moonlight from the window overhead vanished; a shadow had blotted it out.

The air became foul; sulfur and brimstone pervaded his senses.

The silence was disturbed; another bang, and the door slowly crept open, and then the evils came in. They were unearthly, inhuman beings. They, like black slime, splattered through the door in a great rush, covering every orifice they touched in their grime and smog, and raced towards Rauru.

But he was ready. He swung his staff, and at once its jewel blazed like fire and shone through these shadowed demons, burning them up into pure smoke moments after exposure to the light.

The shadow from the window moved away suddenly. His eyes darted towards it as the light shone upon him again, and at once he was taken to the ground from behind.

"OSHI!" he yelled, and pressed his hand upon the ground. This incantation brought upon the powers of his magic into his hand, and upon touching the ground the entire side of his body rebounded back like a bouncing ball, knocking the beast in its teeth with his elbow and bouncing them down the steps of the altar.

Rauru could not get to his feet in time; he was too old, and the beast was already bounding upon him again. He braced his staff so as to choke the beast, so that its snout would not bite his face while his feet fought to push the creature off him. But it snarled, chomped and kicked, tearing his robes with whatever limbs could reach him.

He yelled "KUWABARA!" and a current of electricity permeated throughout his entire body and into the beast, sending it into uncontrollable convulsions and fits of shock. It fell off of him, shaking as the torrents of circuits jolted it unto its demise.

"OSHI!" he yelled, pressing the ground again, and he rebounded onto his feet.

At once he sensed an attack! He raised his staff to counter it, and thanks to his senses he parried the attack of his new foe. He sensed a counter, and deflected that as well as his free hand propelled the foe back with magic.

He heard cackling to his side, and in time ducked to evade a firebolt that ended up burning the wall meters away. Another fire bolt shot towards him, and raised his staff to deflect the spell with his magic barrier newly opened.

But his previous opponent that swiped at him returned, raising its weapon to bring it down upon him.

Rauru propelled himself back with a spell, soaring through the air until he stood at the top of the steps before the altar, and then raised his staff and intensified its light until it looked as if Soler, the sun, had appeared in the temple.

He could see the shadows, now, who quailed and fell back to columns and pews to avoid its light. The shadows of men were made of smoke and grime, the only light being the blood red glow of their eyes and the bestial reflection upon their fangs and horns. Among the ranks quavered creatures of the Dark Realm, as revealed by the dark speech they cursed with.

He felt something trickle down his cheek, and with his free hand had checked to discover that something had slashed his face with a knife. Strange, he felt, that he did not realize it amidst the foray.

The dark servants quivered, cursing in black speech, yet only hid in dark corners to avoid the light.

Rauru wished them gone, yet knew they would not leave. "Begone!" he commanded. "The Gods know of your transgression. How you are able to enter these sacred chambers alludes me! Bring me your master!"

The servants remained uncooperative, silently standing away from the light.

Then, the sounds of boots upon the stone floor echoed throughout the chamber hall. A dark figure processed down the aisle towards him, allowing the light to cascade upon him and yet welcomed it without harm.

Rauru scowled. "Your Dark Magic may protect you from this light and from revealing your identity, but there is no great mystery to be had, here. I know you and of your mission, and I tell thee that there is no treasure in this hallowed place!" he said, triangulating himself with a free hand and then pressing it dearly to his chest to end the salute.

The figure stood silent, staring at the old sage with devil's eyes: pale and without iris. Then it spoke: "The light seems to dim your insight, old man!" his voice rumbled deeply. "You deem me a mere thief to test the myth about this pathetic landmark? But, I daresay, judgment and thoughts get clouded with age… and with battle fatigue." At this, his minions cackled a dark chuckle, reminiscent of the grinding of stone and the coughing of a dead horse, all in a bestial chorus.

Rauru fought the urge to gasp for air. He had lost his breath during the scuffle. Instead, he concentrated on calming his breath. But as he did, the light dimmed to compensate for the change of energy.

The dark figure chuckle. "You give away too much. The Dark Ways are infinite!"

"Wrong!" shouted Rauru, taking the chance to pull in air to his lungs. The light pulsated as a result, and the minions cried in pain, backing away more. But the dark figure remained still.

"Old man, you cannot win this fight with me," said the figure. "Time had taken too much strength from you. You are not the general anymore. You are not as you once were, when the wars first began."

Rauru's heart skipped.

"You," continued the evil man. "Cannot hope to transpose the same strength all the way from year one-hundred and twenty-three, when the Gods so humbled themselves to preserve you foolish mortals, when they selected you twelve disciples to spread hope, courage, and power, in order to defeat my master from gaining the Golden Truth! You have lost it, old man, you are too old. It is time for you to give up… and let me take over."

"Despite your words, cruel they be and truthful they may seem, I cannot stand to allow such grime upon these hallowed grounds," he said. "I now suspect your identity, and when I am done with you I will tell the King."

At once, the light dimmed greatly until it was but like a candlelight, and Rauru felt pressure on both sides of his sternum, as if he were being choked. The figure's hand was held aloft, and he slowly walked up the steps. His green eyes illumined in the dark now allowed by the dimmed light.

He chuckled, emitting deep, throaty grunts. "I shall send you to your Gods. You are crazy about them, after all, I might as well fulfill your insanity. BUT…" he paused. "I want access to the Door."

Rauru gasped as much as he could, painfully struggling to keep his staff in his hands. "You… how… think you can take it by **force**?"

"I will have my ways, old man; I just, well, _will_. TELL ME! How do I open the Doors of Time? How do I enter the Sacred Realm?"

Rauru gasped and gulped. The pain increased in his neck. He could talk now if he wanted to, tell him the truth and be spared this excruciating pain. But, he would also fail his duty and allow the end of the world.

Rauru, however, opened his mouth to speak. The dark figure inclined his head to listen.

Rauru said: "**Stuff your mothers!**"

CRACK. Rauru's neck snapped as the pressure crushed it like the weight of mountains upon him. His staff fell, the light dying to blank darkness as it did so, and his body sagged in the air while it was supported by the dark magic around his neck.

The dark figure lowered his arm, allowing the old man's body to roll down the steps like limp doll.

* * *

She remained silent for the longest time after Impa had told her what happened, that their greatest ally and friend, the only one who openly supported her out in the city, the only who could have helped them, was **dead**. The young princess broke into tears and hid her face in such small, soft hands.

Impa stood with her own, hardened by wielding her weaponry, braced at the bend of her back, remaining the same as ever: emotionless. She had no need to feel, for feelings were a disservice, a detriment, to a functioning person. And yet this was a terrible time indeed.

"Milady," she said, remaining assertive yet attempting to hold some empathy. "We must think of the next step. We have been robbed, yet we must remain strong."

The princess wept stronger than before. Impa digressed with a sigh. How could she ask so much of a young girl, still so innocent and young as she was?

But she had trained her to be strong! Well, …_was training_.

Perhaps she should be harder. Impa put herself in front of the girl, and scowled down at her.

"HOW DARE YOU!" she growled.

At once, the princess choked and looked up to the nursemaid, petrified, and afraid of her wrath, with her azure eyes doused in tears and her makeup glazed in a mess.

"You are the Princess of Hyrule. You are the LAST GUARDIAN of your family's most important key!" she berated her. "Now is not the time to be innocent, madam. Evil is upon our door at this very moment, and we cannot allow an inch to let it work upon your fears."

The girl choked, "But Impa, I am only a little girl!"

"Little girl my asterisk!" Impa growled. "By your age I had helped your great-great uncle conquer Samargant. My own mother had thrown me to the great _kages_. It took me GENERATIONS to soak in their power and gifts, and I have grayed before my prime!"

The princess looked down upon her lap, hopeless and insignificant before the Sheikhan Mistress's words.

Impa felt like kicking herself. She had overstepped herself.

She sat down on the bed next to her. She then looked around the room, gazing upon the luxurious desk, the tapestries, the wardrobe, and the bed itself. Outside, the world was bright with Soler's rays, and the city down the hill was alive. But here, at the top of the hill, there was evil afoot.

"I apologize, milady," she said. "You treated him with great love, along with the import that he beheld. It will take time for you to heal, but in due time you _will_."

The princess remained silent, wiping her nose with a handkerchief.

"Well…" she finally spoke, her clear, youthful voice, laden in sorrow, coming out. "What are we to do, Impa? Rauru is dead… and by the darkness that is after my family's heirloom."

"Indeed."

"I don't think he said anything."

"He was too strong. He wouldn't have."

"Therefore, we are still in the clear."

"…for now, that is."

"…I had another dream… about them both."

Impa's eyes looked upon her in wonder. "Both of them?"

The girl nodded.

"Tell me."

And the princess began her strange account…

* * *

_Chaos reigned supreme in this world. The storm had gathered and torrents raged across the green lands. The skies darkened like ore and winds swept in fury, as if the spirits of nature rioted against the evils of the night._

_And then, as if while a mist rose away, a wall of polished stone appeared. It spanned far and wide from the left and right limits, and at its very center its passageway through was barred by a large wooden drawbridge. Atop glistened a golden indenture made up of three triangles connected by their apexes to form a giant triangle._

_At once, the drawbridge began to open. It lowered until it completed its opening, sending a clamorous CLANG into the air._

_There he stood, at the brink of it all, confused and bewildered, and unsure of his reason for being there._

_Out from the depths of the walls of stone and rock came a pale horse embroidered in royal cloth and equipment, and upon it sat two riders: an tall, strong woman, grayed in the hair with age yet animated like a young warrior, and behind her sat a young girl, her arms wrapped around the woman warrior's waist. She was a young an innocent girl. A small child. Just like him._

_The horse came at him at a rapid rate, closing in on his so fast that he barely had enough time to doge it without scraping a knee on the beast's hoof. Landing on his side, a weight on his back pulled him backwards to force him to lay up. What was we carrying on his back? It was large and heavily metallic, round, and convexed slightly. And heavy to boot._

_For a brief moment, her eyes met his. She could see him, and wondered who he was as much as he wondered about her, and yet the warrior was oblivious to him as she nearly knocked him over. _

_Her eyes were blue, her hair was a bright blond. Just like his._

_Questioned flooded his thoughts. He jumped to his feet (adjusting to the weight on his back) and shouted to her. Who was she? Where was he? Who was **he**? But she and her fellow rider ran off into the darkness of the night, rain shrouding their escape. From what? He figured they sought to race against the storm that was already upon them all._

_Lo, he felt the hairs upon his neck cringe, and a cold air arrived from behind him. He turned around to face the drawbridge again, and there stood It. A dark horse, bestial in nature, and with a devil upon its back. He was a scary man. Nothing about him was good, but it could not be defined solely by his black armor, his inhumanly green-tinted skin, his ruby-red hair, his great nose, or his yellow eyes. Combined they made him a foreboding man, but about him hung a purplish aura that promised evil to follow with every thing the rider did._

_Quivering in fear and from cold, the young boy stepped away. The rider grinned, and extended his hand, and lo! It stretched at the elbow, reaching towards him, flexing his bejeweled fingers to grasp him._

_But, no, he realized it wasn't him that the hand was reaching for. No, the angle was too obtuse. Instead, it reached for what hovered over his shoulder, the thing he treasured most, the light in that guided him through the darkness, that navigated him towards safety._

_At once, the light was gone in the rider's hand._

**_No! _**

* * *

He woke up in a sweat, sitting upright in his bed with a start, in the middle of the night and by himself. He shrieked but there no reply; only the natural elements of the forest spoke back: the crickets, the birds, the wind through the trees outside his window, the swaying of canopy overhead. And, of course, the night's silence.

He regained his breath eventually, but it seemed as if forever before he did. He wiped his brow with his elbow, and then took a deep breath and exhaled it peacefully. The nightmare was over.

He looked around his room. Near the opening was his make-shift desk, merely a small table with some drawers. Markers and stencils covered the entire thing, including a few notches made from a knife depicting dragons, horses and monsters.

Next to that, on the far side of the desk away from the door, was a board with paper on it. Just a 'to-do' paper of things he still did not get done.

His bed sat underneath the window across from the door, on the other side of the room. Next to the bed sat his box full of toys.

He was only twelve years old, yet he did not feel like it.

He looked at his shoulder. Nothing was wrong with it, after all it was a healthy shoulder. For a kid his age, it was a good shoulder. Among the other kids, he was told that he was the strongest of them all. That only made him feel worse about himself.

No, it wasn't that the shoulder was deformed that caused him to gaze upon it. It was the absence of a friend that saddened him greatly; the light that he craved the most: the light which he never had his entire life, which everyone else seemed to have had since they were made.

It made him mad. It made him lonely.

But, after twelve years, Link had told himself by now, meaning to comfort himself: that's life for me.


	2. Prologue II

_**Prologue II**_

_**The Lost Woods**_

NO one went there; to the Lost Woods, that is. Geographically, the wood covered 200 square acres of land right between Hyrule and Calania, serving as a knot between the two nation's borders. But no one dared to make a road through it; no, they went around it. Why? It was haunted, and full of ancient magic that not even the mages at Hyrule Castle recognized.

In 298 AS, a colony vanished without a trace after entering it to begin a settlement. Captain Murlinon, by order of the King, took his company to find the lost colonists, and returned alone and insane, fatigued and mortified. He spoke in nonesense, claiming that the forest came alive and killed all of his men by segregating them apart from each other. Murlinon survived because he got lost and was being chased by 'walking plants,' and found his way out of the forest. He also claimed that the forest did not act alone; no, it was aided by the magic of mischevious fairies and devious plantling creatures. Captain Murlinon was quarantined somewhere in Erumat, to the north, to live the rest of his days muttering about the Lost Woods. After these events, King Carpathian condemned the forest in 299, acknowledging it as a haunted forest to avoid 'at all costs.'

Legends circulated in conversation amongst the Hylia, the Goron, and even the Zora as to its origin and current state. No matter what story was held as truth or legend, everyone concurred that the woods were haunted. The trees were rumored to be living, sentient beings, bent on leading wanderers astray and into dark corners where they may have their ways with them. No one went into the woods, for everyone else never returned.

There was, however, a rather unpopular belief held by a very small number of people. These few believed that there lived a secret society within the forest, composed primarilly of bigger fairies and plant scrubs ('deku' scrubs, in Hylian vernacular), who lived so deep in the forest that matters in the world could hardly, possibly, affect their harmony and peace. This was purely legendary, but also a bit of hope that in darkness there could be wondrous light.

Heh. This is funny, too.

A society _did _exist in the Lost Woods. Deep, _far_ deep in the seclusion of the woods was a society of beings living harmoniously with the deku folk. But they were not just fairies.

They were children! Yes, children. They did not come from the outside world, nor did they spring out of nothing. Their origin stems back far in time.

Hundreds of years ago, there lived a wizard who wandered the world by order of the Gods to weed out agents of the dark lord, Onok. Over hills and far away this wizard traveled, ridding the world of Onok's greatest weapons and allies until peace rested upon the lands. The wizard, pleased with himself, took it upon himself to wander the lands even more until he came upon the Lost Woods. Despite its wild nature, the forest pleased him. No one bothered it, and no one wanted to. It lay far away from the concerns of the Hylia or any other race, and was shielded by legend. In it he discovered that a dark spirit named Magu ruled the forest, taking on the shape of a tree, and commanded the creatures of this enchanted forest. He fought to save them, to set them free and allow them to work by their own whims. When the battle ended, Magu cursed the wizard to live the life of a tree for all perpetuity. As Magu crumbled to dust, his spirit now sent wildly into the cosmos, the wizard sank into the earth and became a sapling, bound to the spot upon which he was cursed, to live the rest of his life as a tree.

What seemed a curse became a blessing. The creatures the spirits of the forest were freed from Magu's tyranny. They took pity upon their savior, and they sought to reward him with their love and care, and so raised him from a sapling to a majestic, grand, and magnificent Deku tree! He repaid their love and care with his own, leaving a place in the forest for them to dwell as his best friends.

According his tales, the Gods were moved to give the wizard any wish. The wizard, now a Great Deku Tree, asked to have children to raise. And so they granted his wish, and he became the guardian of a new life form called the Kokiri.

These creatures descended from spirits of the forest, grown out of the very earth and into flesh. These were not just wood sprites or plants, but angelic little children. They were innocent, kind, and childish, mischevious as a fairy and pure like a child.

But just as well, they were prone to curiosity. Some had wandered too far into the Lost Woods and were never seen again.

The Great Deku Tree, during his lifetime as a wizard, made many friends during his time. Of them, he asked the Great Fairy Queen for a favor. He wanted guardians to protect his children, and to enforce his law: never leave the village, never leave the forest, and to never disobey him. She granted his request, and bequeathed unto every Kokiri child a member of her own children: a single fairy.

The fashion of the Kokiri is simple: skirts, dresses and tunics. And all boys wear hoods. Girls wore slippers while boys wore boots or sandals.

As they were infused with the spirits of the forest, their very genetic structure and physical appearance reflected the forest. Except for their skin, which was a pink much like our own, their hair and eyes reflected the colors of nature, be them green, red or brown.

The calendar was simple: Monday through Sunday. Every Sunday, the Kokiri congregated before the Great Deku Tree to listen to a story. All of his stories were about the world outside and what he had seen. Every now and then, the fairies would tell the Kokiri that it was time to have a festival, to celebrate being alive in the forest and to make merry. So, they would congregate before the Great Deku Tree and have tasty food and treats, dance, play games, sing songs, play music, and listen to the Great Deku Tree say a grand story unlike the others he would tell on a regular Sunday.

No one bothered to count the years (or that years existed). As long as they could remember, the Great Deku Tree had always been their father, and yet he still let Mido, that idiot, parade around as the chieftain of the village.

Each child had their own jobs, no matter how trivial or menial they were. Tadric was guardian of the forest treasure (which no one had ever seen). Aldin, Rorin, Colin and Davin (the Know-It-All-Brothers) knew the goings-on in the forest (which wasn't much). Mido was (much to everyone's chagrin) the chieftain. Fado played the fiddle at festivals with the forest sprites. Evan was in charge of the main garden and for weeding off deku baba buds (very mean plants that actually bite people).

A lot of kids had jobs. If not, they simply played around or helped with other kids. Sora, when the mood hit her, would stop admiring her curly hair and pretty face and help her sister Sira clean the house of spiders.

Another note of interest is the abodes that these children live in. Via permission from the Great Deku Tree, these kids carved out the insides of the trees and fashioned them into proper housing. Of course, the biggest one was Mido's house. But, then again, he was a rather lonesome boy, and not many kids played with him, so the Great Deku Tree let him have the biggest tree in the village. Then Mido met Gabo and Sofert.

Then there is the question of reproduction. The answer: none. Love between Kokiri was purely familial and asexual.

Punishment was enforced by the fairies, although the biggest offences were corrected by the Deku Tree. Nothing severe, of course, but after talking with the Deku Tree, no one would ever cross him. They revered him as their father and their deity. They would never disobey him, and none have ever done so since they got fairies.

Life in the forest was paradise. Everything was as should be: everyone cooperated, everyone had fun, everyone played. Everyone had a fairy. Everyone was the same. The rules applied to everyone: no one left the village, no one left the forest, and no one disobeyed the Deku Tree.

Well, then there was Link. He was… different.


	3. The Slingshot Accident

_Chapter 1_

_The Slingshot Accident_

Link rolled over onto his side, away from the window to avoid the sun's rays that slipped through the interlacing covers of the canopy over his house. Soon the warmth of the sun permeated in the back of his neck, further adding to his annoyance. He pulled his blanket over his golden head to ease the irritation, and found himself lulled to sleep once again.

The sounds of birds singing lilted through the air, making their daily calls once again on this Saturday morning. No doubt they knew what they were going to do for the rest of their little lives.

Then there was a knock on his door, followed by a "Link!"

Link pinched his blanket and pulled it off his eyes to find a familiar site standing at the door, bracing the curtain against the doorframe as she did so. Her name was Saria.

Before he asked why she was annoying him earlier than usual, he suddenly remembered what his schedule was for today. Link's eyes widened and clumsily rolled out of bed and groped for his boots under the mattress.

Saria laughed. "You woolhead, you forgot we were playing ultimate slingshot today!" her voice was always chirpy and joyful, as if she expected good tomorrows and good games to play right now.

Link shook his head at her, trying to dismiss the accusation while he slipped on his tunic. Like every other kid in the village, it was one of three that he owned; one to wear, two to keep ready in case the previous one had to be cleaned.

"Yes, you did…" she teased. "Alright you log, if you didn't forget, what made you sleep in so hard?"

He said nothing as he fitted into his boots. Then he realized that he forgot to put his shorts on,for Saria suddenly looked away bashfully. Link swiftly slipped his feet out again and discovered his shorts hiding under his bedsheets. He put them on while covering himself with the blanket, Saria politely looking away until he finished and put a boot on.

She looked at him studiously, and then shrugged her shoulders in resignation. "Well, Fado and the others already began. Last I saw, Rorin laid a smacker on Mido's face hard."

Link chuckled lightly as he finished tying the other boot.

Saria sheepishly smiled in response, although his silence worried her. She could sense that he was uneasy this morning.

Link looked up from his boot to find her sitting next to him on the bed. She looked at him assuredly. "Are things good?" She always asked this when she sensed that Link was somewhere else in his head.

Link's uncommonly azure blue eyes gazed deep into her deep hazel ones. He could have told her so many things that were going on in his head. He could have brought up the same things that always disturbed him about living in the village. He could have told her that he was incredibly lonely and didn't want to live in his treehouse alone. He could have told her that his dreams were getting worse. He could have repeated the millions of times he told her how much he didn't fit in, and how much he felt he never would.

She always looked out for him, but the best she could do was be beside him.

Instead, he told her 'no.' He said a deku scrub was bugging him all morning, trying to sell him a piece of bark from a deku tree. Saria raised her eyebrow, finding the matter incredibly odd. Link told her that the deku scrub promised that it would 'fend against anything—well, mostly—in the forest'. Saria laughed.

"But really, Link, I'm concerned," she said. "Are you... having the same thoughts, again?"

He told her that he always felt them, regardless.

"Hmm," she said. "But they don't always leave you in a dark mood. You're not able to be... well, fun, right now. I want you good for the game today!"

Link nodded, making a smile, and jumped onto his feet, kicking his heels together and nestling into his boots, and told her that he was ready to bust a few nuts.

Saria hooray'd, and they both ran out the door and onto the patio.

The first thing to hit him was the scent of the forest, invading his very body with its freshness permeating throughout the entire woodland realm, all over the village with that lovely smell that only comes from dew on the trimmed grass; that, or the wind carrying the smell of trees and plants in the morning. Then he gazed upon the village from his patio, which was more of a landing considering his house was built in the top of the tree and accessible by a ladder. From his house, the path went up a small incline and led towards the center of the village, with the shop resting on the bank of the pond. Far behind the shop the path would lead onto the edge of the village and into the woods. Over the canopy, Link could see the Great Deku Tree's own treetop, which reigned like a tower above everything else over there.

"Come on!" said Saria, hurriedly, already scaling down the ladder with Link jumping into pursuit.

She jumped off the ladder about three feet above the ground and landed smoothly, and already bolted into a run. Link attempted a five foot jump and landed just as smoothly and bolted right after her.

She laughed. "Catch me!" she said playfully.

Link laughed as he ran after, certain that he would be able to without trouble.

He caught her within five strides, and then proceeded to grab her by the shoulder and tackle her to the ground. But before he could pin her, she smartly maneuvered and kicked him off of her and then continued running down the path towards the shop, passing by Kokiri doing their own things (either just walking around for a morning brisk or simply playing around).

He caught up to her just outside the shop, and they both had to take a break and gather some air. They chuckled amid breaths.

"Oy!" said a voice overhead. They looked up to see Cara sitting on the edge of the shop's roof, smiling down at them.

"You two going to the Slingshot game?" she asked.

"We're late, I know," said Saria between breaths.

"Well…" Cara got to her feet and gazed far over their heads. "You better get gone if you don't wanna miss the action!" she said gaily.

Saria laughed, and then punched Link in the shoulder just before darting off down the path towards the hill. Link grimaced at the pain, rubbed his shoulder, and then shook his head dismissively as he took steps to chase after.

"Hey, Link," Cara called him. He stopped and looked up at her. "Be careful. Mido's playing, I don't know if you know that…"

Link's face irked. He nodded.

"Well… be careful… Kick his butt if you can!"

"You will not!" piped a obnoxiously loud and squeakish voice. Cara's face turned to disdain as her fairy, Lotl, arrived from from behind her shoulder, carrying a lotus flower. Lotl, like every other fairy, looked like a will-o'-the-wisp, or a floating orb of light the size of Link's palm.

Link's face turned petulant.

"Link, you will NOT beat up your village chieftain- again. You both must come to peace with one another!"

"Lotl, don't talk nonsense, please?" Cara asked, humorously.

"Well, it's better than listening to it," said the bossy fairy. "Link, you will not have a quarrel with him. That's that."

Link simply nodded and turned to make chase after Saria, who had stopped in mid-flight to see why Link had stopped. But once he started running, she turned around and fled.

Along the way, they passed some treehouses. Link knew their owners: Golo's, Faber's, Nolin's, Dagee's, and such. As he passed by, he noticed Evan and his brother Jovan gardening outside their house. Link waved as he passed by, and they waved back in a rush; they were trying to weed a few deku babas from their vegetable garden with their hand shovels. Link swore he saw that one of their shovels had been clean bitten off.

He had to agree: deku babas were bad.

Saria had a five yard lead on him, but that gap grew smaller as he continued to chase her. The path led around a big hill. On the other side of the hill was a small field that had been irrigated so to set up a crop of vegetables and fruits. This was called Garden Field. Hamos and many others were in charge of feeding the village of vital nutrients and minerals. They immediately recognized Saria and Link, and waved at them as they ran past the field.

Soon, they got to Taro's treehouse. Taro's treehouse sat at the edge of an area of trees that sat within the village. Taro was reknown for holding games of hide and seek or tag—or in this case ultimate slingshot—at his place, since the 'gaming area' was so vast yet full of cover and concealment.

Taro's brother, Gato, was mending his hood with a thread and needle on the doorstep when the two friends arrived. They could hear shouts from behind the house.

Gato looked at Link glibly. "Well, _you're_ here at last." Then he reached behind him to grab two bags and two slingshots, and he gave them to the two. "Remember the rules: no eyeshots, no low shots, the team with the most hits wins."

"I hope Fado's been making me proud?" Saria said as she tied her bag of deku nuts to her belt. Link did likewise, and was still put off by Gato's comment directed to him.

"Sounds like from here," said Gato. "So, uh, Link, sure you know how to use that thing?"

Link avoided looking at him, nodding and examining his slingshot instead.

Gato shrugged. "Well, then, you both know which teams you want: go get 'em, Cutters."

Saria grinned. "Gooooo Cutters!" she then tapped Link on the shoulder and they darted around the side of the house and into the backyard.

As soon as they entered the perimeter of the gaming area, Link and Saria took cover. And, with giving each other cues, they rushed from tree to tree until they arrived to the action scene, some yards deep into the tree orchard. Link caught one in the neck as soon as they arrived, and then sent a nut careening towards the other team's direction.

Link stayed with Saria as they ran throughout the woods to find Fado. They found him, and he told them that they were in danger of losing the lead. Mido had managed to cool off his temper after the last round and regained his dead-eye shot. "Mido's shooting is going halfsies; one minute he's getting us right in the chest or back, the other he almost blinds Taba and Nono. Our 'great chief' sure gots a killer aim."

"Hmph! The cheat," harrumphed Saria. "Well, now you've got two soldiers with ya! Me and Link are here!"

Fado gratefully patted Link on the shoulder, "Hey! Glad you could make it!"

Link smiled back.

Fado then looked to Saria. "Well, sis, ready to cut?"

A nut exploded on a branch over their heads, cascading them in purple dust.

Saria whined, "Aww, they got the purple ones!"

"No matter!" said Fado. "We'll cut in green!"

"Go Cutters!" yahooed Saria, raising a deku nut triumphantly.

A nut rebounded off a tree and smacked Fado in the face, but did not explode. He growled and shot a few nuts at the other team. They merely laughed and shouted back: "Boulders shmoulders, older colder; we will hoorah when it's over!"

Taba, who sat behind cover only a few feet away, caught one in the knee and yelled painfully.

Link had a nut ready to shoot, and he looked to where the other team shot from. He could see their hoods and heads bobbing amongst the trees, about fifty meters away. Among them, he could see Mido's red curly hair.

He sent the nut sailing through the air, hoping to nail Mido. Alas, it missed, and Mido peeked out from cover to meet eyes. His face changed from smug to disgusted.

Link grinned. The game was his.

Back and forth they sent volley after volley until members began losing ammunition. Link offered to go and collect nuts, but Tada went instead. While she went to for supplies, Mido and his team halted fire. They too were out.

But eventually both sides got their ammo, and the sounds of yells, challenging shouts, painful squeals, and teamwork echoed through the air.

The two teams went at it for two hours until the accident.

Link was determined to beat Mido at this game. Of all the Kokiri, he hated Mido the most. Ever since he could remember, Mido had picked on him. He tormented him. Teased him. Left him out of the best parties, the best games, and the most interesting talks (gossip around the forest).

Link was not going to let Mido beat him at anything. Not today!

He motioned to Saria that he was going to advance. Saria shook her head, but Link ignored her and ran forward as she called out for him to come back.

Mido's team now aimed solely for him. As he dove from cover to cover, ammunition exploded around him wherever he went, with the purple pollen smearing all over him. But he was persistent, and he didn't get hit.

He could hear Mido getting desperate, shouting orders: "Get him! Get him!"

He noticed some of his boys moving from cover to cover to outflank him. But Link was smarter than they were. They were slow, and he was fast. One moment, Gabo and Sofert thought he had vanished, until he began shooting them from abve on a treebranch.

"You stupids! Don't let him win!" Mido roared at the top of his shaky voice.

Link jumped from the tree branch and onto the pine-needle covered ground and darted for cover, Gabo and Sofert shooting but not hitting him. He lost them amongst the trees and waited as they searched for him. There was a silence as they tried to find him, and he smartly moved to closer cover. He slowly looked from around the tree trunk, and could see Mido's face. He was no farther than ten feet.

Link took the opportunity. He readied a nut, and jumped from cover—

Suddenly he was pelted from behind; searing pain climbed his backside and his pained grunt echoed in the air. Apparently, Nono had bad aim and hit Link instead of Yeda.

At once, Mido and everyone else on his team focused on Link. The poor, blond boy barely dodged from their fire as he ran for cover.

"Sorry!" yelled Nono, oddly.

Link grimaced. He wanted the shot at his bully so badly. He wanted to get Mido so good.

He was going to do it!

He stood up, and landed deku nuts on Sofert and Yeda. He raced and pushed Gabo to the side before he could fit a nut into his slingshot with his chubby fingers. Mido was already backing away into cover, fearing Link.

As Link got to the other side, he got pelted in the forehead. Mido had made a cheap shot.

That's when he lost his temper. The next thing he remembered, Link was being pulled off by Fado and Taba, and Sofert and Gabo were standing defensively at Mido's sides.

"Link! Stop it!" yelled Fado.

But Link couldn't. He wouldn't. He was so angry, so full of rage.

Mido himself was on a similar emotion, but not so much as Link, which left him more scared of him.

Everyone in the game had come to see the tussle before splitting the two of them. Saria stood by, helplessly, trying to talk to Link as he wrestled for freedom.

Mido cried, "I misfired! I didn't mean to hit him in the head!"

Link protested.

"And then he just starts beating me up! He's crazy!"

Fado gripped Link tightly, but it was difficult. Trying to restrain the boy was like restraining a waterfall, for Link kept getting loose and then retackled by Fado and Taba.

"Link! Stop! Stop before the fairies get here!" said Saria.

Link didn't' care.

Mido then laughed. "Why should he care? He don't care about no fairies. Although I think he deserves a whooping. He never did have a fairy to keep him in line, now, has he?"

That steamed him even more. Link broke free, rushed forward, managed to push away Gabo and Sofert and then landed a smart blow in Mido's face, sending him backwards to a tree.

This time, Saria took her slingshot and smacked Link on the head with it. He stopped at once, rubbing the spot where he got smacked and looked at her quizically. She fumedin anger but did not say a word.

"Oy! What's all this noise?" said a squeaky voice.

Everyone turned around to see a collective of lights hovering towards them. Their fairies had returned.

Fai, Mido's fairy, threw a fit when she saw what had happened to his face. Garu, Fado's fairy, along with the other fairies began discussing what to do. Fado and Saria argued with their fairies, but everyone else remained reticent except for Gabo, Sofert and Yeda.

Link thought to himself that at least he got to smack that smile off of Mido's face.

* * *

Link was to be punished. By Fai.

"Link, you assaulted your chieftain—and in fury! That's not good! Let alone it being you, it's unacceptable for ANY Kokiri to such bad things! BAD boy!"

Link stood before the raised platform upon which Mido stood, over whose shoulder Fai hovered angrilly over. He was either looking up at Fai or straight forward at Mido's dirty boots.

He remained silent, and he didn't hang his head. He wasn't ashamed. He was just perturbed that he got caught.

Fai could see it in his face. "I'm spreading the word to the other fairies. NO ONE is to play with you until next March— er, until I say so!"

Mido concealed a grin.

Link inclined his head. He asked when March was.

"Never you mind!" said the fairy.

Then he asked what March _was_.

"ENOUGH!" said Fai. "You are to remain by yourself, to ponder over what you have done, until _I_ say so! AND! Slingshots are now banned throughout the entire village!"

Link asked what he was going to do for that whole time. Casually he brought his hand to the side, making sure his slingshot was well concealed under his shorts.

"Figure it out. You always do, especially on your own. You're smart, aren't you? Go be smart or something," chided Fai. She disliked Link, almost as much as Mido did, but only because he was hard to control.

Link shrugged his shoulders, and asked if he could at least talk to Saria. Fai said no. Link nodded miserably, turned around and headed for the door. On his way out, he overheard Mido asking what March was and Fai smacking him on the head in retort.

Outside, Saria waitied for him, leaning against the side of the house. As Link stepped out, she began questioning him. At first he did not answer, walking away instead, but after question five he caved and told her everything.

Saria pursed her lips. Mael, her fairy, said sadly, "Well, you kind of _did_ lose your temper."

Link tried to defend himself, but Saria interrupted. "Link, you _did_ jump him. I don't like that you're getting punished, but you did a bad thing.

Link grimaced and began walking away. He figured she wanted to call out to him, to come back, but that Mael had stopped her. It did not matter. Link needed to talk to someone who would understand.

He figured it would be the Great Deku Tree. He told them both he was going to see him, and they both wished him good will.

On his way to the Meadow, he noticed that the Kokiri were looking at him oddly. It seemed Fai had spread the word very quickly.

He passed by Evan, who was wrapping his hands in _aspas_ linen at his doorstep. The deku babas were gone, but his hand had been bitten repeatedly in the process. As he passed, Evan gave him a thumbs up and a wink. Link felt a little better. But he knew he couldn't talk to Evan; his fairy was right there, chatting up a dragonfly.

Link got to the shop, and Cara and left her perch. Outside the shop door, Poltus, the shopkeeper, was arguing with something. Link recognized it immediately as a deku scrub. The creature was about as tall as a Kokiri, but was in no way of the same race. Its body, which was composed of a hard shell layer, stood on two lanky wooden legs and expressed itself with two lank arms and small fingers. Most peculiar, plant with bulbous leaves grew on its head, and below that radiated its two eyes, consistent of sap and emanating like deep wells, and below them was a strange funnel, from which came its speech.

"Poltus!" it cheeped, sounding as if a bird was speaking through a flute. "I swear, my stock is good!"

Poltus, who was by far the shortest Kokiri in the village, kept trying to stand on his toes to meet the creature's height. "I've seen your products. They mean _nuttin'_ to us 'cus we don't like to eat wooden pastries!"

"By Deku Tree Mightiest, I swear that you'll like my next line!"

"And you swear on what?"

"Uh… well… I swear on my 'favoritist' friends, and my… 'bestest' toys?" asked the deku scrub. Apparently it was alien to Kokiri modes of speech, even though it spoke the same language enough to get by.

"Pfft," chided Poltus' fairy. "You play with toys? Figurines made of wood?"

The deku scrub went silent for a moment. "…_you_ do?"

Taken aback, Poltus suddenly noticed Link passing by. His eyes followed him, his disinterest in the conversation now causing the deku scrub to jump around in order to look.

Behind the shop, the path went on to the edge of the village for a few more yards. At the edge sat a wall of trees that surrounded the entire village, separating it from the Lost Woods. At the end of the path stood Noli, like a guard, with a fairy over his shoulder.

"Halt!" said Noli. "Who comes before the Great Deku Tree and His Meadow, Yea He who Fathered Us and Made Us His Children, Who—"

Link told him to 'cut it out,' and Noli sighed. "Whaddya need to talk to the Great One for?"

Link said that he needed to have a personal talk with the Great Deku Tree.

Noli shook his head. "Iunno, Link. Fai's orders were that you ain't supposed to talk to anyone."

Link corrected him by saying he couldn't talk to _Saria_. Noli looked at his fairy.

The fairy paused, and then: "Hey, the kid's got a point."

Noli shrugged, and then moved to the side. "Got a dagger?"

Link blinked. Then he shook his head confusedly.

Noli sighed, and took the dagger of his belt and handed it to him. "Deku babas have been growin everywhere on the path to the Meadow, lately. Be careful, and try not to take too long. The Great Deku Tree—" Noli's fairy smacked him on the head, forcing him to shut up.

Link tried to inquire, but the fairy told him to hurry up and talk to the Great One. Link took a look down the path, which was shadowed by the canopy of trees. With the thought of babas growing 'everywhere' on his mind, Link felt afraid.

But he really needed to talk to someone. So, Link gripped the dagger and tarried forth.

He had been down this path many times before, just like every other Kokiri. But he was cautious. As soon as he stepped onto the path, a deku baba the size of his head sprang forth from its bub and tried to bit him in the face. Its bulbous head, covered in what seemed to be veins, bobbed in the air menacingly, glaring at him without eyes and licking its teeth with a purple slab of a tongue.

Link encountered various other deku babas on the path, some not even trying to bite him directly but merely chomping at the air around it. Those he just avoided, but some had to be grabbed and weeded. To his knowledge, deku babas were the only plants that were somewhat 'carnivorous;' that was a word he learned from the Great Deku Tree, meaning 'meat eater.' Not that deku babas _could_ eat a Kokiri, however, because none could ever grow that large. The best they could do was bit into an arm or a leg and suck the blood.

As he walked further down the path, cautiously weeding or avoiding babas, he realized something: lately, deku babas had been springing everywhere, lately. And the fairies had been going in droves to talk with the Great Deku Tree. Something was going on.

Eventually, he came to the edge of the path, and the atmosphere around him changed. The air was sweet and clean, and it gave him the urge to go running forever. The number of deku babas mitigated until none were found as he drew closer to the end of the path. The trees and plants conveyed a healthy green unlike anywhere else in the forest, with flowers blossoming in bright colors. However, he noticed some had begun to die. He even saw a tree had fallen somewhere on the side of the path. Looking at it again from afar, Link noticed that it had broken from its trunk, as if something knocked it down from its base.

No matter. Link came to the end of the path, and the canopy overhead rose high. The trees around the Meadow grew large.

Then he stepped out from the enclosure of the path and into the Meadow itself. Its expanse was great and wide, and everywhere flowered a beautiful plant or small sapling of a tree. The forest sprites were abundant everywhere, hovering wherever they would and doing their natural businesses.

Then his eyes fell upon the centerpiece of the entire meadow, the very thing which was the epicenter of the entire Kokiri community and of life in the forest as Link knew it.

The Great One was a mighty tree, towering as if a castle, with his head reaching high enough for his canopy to overlap the perimeter of the meadow, with a host of branches that would take the entire village to populate. His roots extended far and wide and at many angles, turning and appearing out of the ground at epidemic points in the earth.

The trunk itself was the marvel, for out of it protruded the ancient being's face. At present, the Great One was asleep. His eyes, made of bark, were closed. A sap bubble hung from his wooden lips, dangling as he breathed in and out. He also had an interesting nose, which was round and pressed against his face.

Link felt uneasy. Should he awake the Great One? He walked over to the grassy knoll that inclined so as to hold up someone to speak with the Great Deku Tree, with the decline leading to the trunk where all the festival were held. In past festivals, the Kokiri had left graffiti upon his trunk, depicting dragons, horses and fairies.

Link watched as the Deku Tree slumbered. Well, should he wake him up?

Then he dropped his dagger. Bending down to retrieve it, his eyes noticed something odd about the grass. It had been pressed heavily as if a really, _really_ big deku scrub with big, clompy feet had trodden all over the place. The indents were fairly deep.

Suddenly, the Deku Tree's canopy shook. Painfully. His sap bubble splattered to the ground, exploding upon impact. The Deku Tree's eyes pressed hard, letting out the sound of grinding wood permeate the air.

Link approached, and opened his mouth to speak. As he did, the Great Deku Tree's eyes softened, and then drowsily opened, revealing deep green eyes that seemed to behold the very essence of nature, like pools of water. They narrowed in on Link, and upon recognizing him had opened fully.

"Oh," he said, speaking with a deep voice that boomed like the depths of the realm and echoed like the wind. "'tis you, Link. I apologize, I was asleep. I dreamt of my days in the old times. Many memories they are, yes, they are… but o! what bringst thou here, my child?"

Link told him what had happened, from the slingshot accident to Fai's decree, and he pleaded that such a punishment be lifted. The Deku Tree, however, seemed to have lost interest, for his eyes drifted away along with his thoughts.

Link asked the Great Tree if he was alright.

The Deku Tree, taken aback, looked back at Link. "O, forgive me, young one. My mind resteth on other matters at present. I am sorry, O Link. Fai may hold dislike to thee, for she carrieth the temper that Mido doth behold, and hold grudge against thee for having the courage and stand up to him, but she doth speak truth upon thine actions. It was wrong to hurt Mido. No matter his transgression, thou needst learn two things, good child."

Link asked what they were.

The Great Deku Tree's eyes seemed to gaze deep into Link, and he felt comforted. "Forgiveness. Mido hath much… growing up to do. He hath been, like thee, lonely due to his heated temper and hasty judgment, and hath only his fury to force friendship. He liveth in thine shadow, didst thou not know? Thou hast a kind heart that others find admirable, and they treat you courteously because of it. Yet, still, others keep thee askance because… thou hast no companion to call your own."

Link looked at his shoulder uncomfortably, rubbing it to make it feel warm.

"Mmmmm," boomed the Great Deku Tree. "That leaveth the other matter to learn."

Link asked him what that was.

"Patience. In due time, my good lad, thou wilt find compensation. Thou shalt be awarded for your prudence. But thou hast to wait. If time were no matter, the world would have ended when it began. Thou must merely learn how to use the time that was gifted to you, and wisely, for time wasted is a sad crime to thineself. Dost thou understand, O Link?"

Link did. And he felt encouraged. He nodded, holding a smile. The Great One curved his thin lips into a smile, the sound of grinding wood following it. He let out a twitch of his face, as if a bug bit him.

"Now, go my child," he said. "I… I need my rest. These past few moons… hath been tiresome."

Link wanted to stay. He wanted to find out what was wrong with him, to see if he could, in a sense, repay him for being such a good deity. But, the law was, 'never disobey the Great Deku Tree,' and even he, Mr. No Fairy, had to listen. He bowed his head reverently and then turned to leave.

"Link," the Great Deku Tree said hastily, as if something came to mind. Link turned around expectantly.

He looked as if he wanted to say something. But he changed his mind. "Use thine time wisely, son."

Link nodded, thanked him, and proceeded back down the path. His mind was at ease, and his temper was now gone, replaced with good hopes and plans for 'using his time wisely.'

But another weight now fell upon him. He greatly worried about the Great Deku Tree. He had never seen such distress upon the deity's face. Seeing such pain in that face made Link wonder if the Gods could be hurt.

Once he made it back to the village, Link asked Noli and his fairy what was wrong with the Deku Tree. Noli had no idea. The fairy momentarily paused before admitting that the Deku Tree had caught a bug. "He's sick. We don't know how or why, but it has been paining him for months— well, a while."

He ignored inquiring about what a 'month' was. Instead he wished them both a good day and made his journey back to his house, his mind dwelling upon the Great Deku Tree.

* * *

Impa waited patiently as His Majesty reflected upon what she just said.

Above the steps, on the glorious Seat of Hyrule, sat the world's most politically powerful man: Lord Harkanion III, Ben-Ardalonion, the Mighty Kenhiron, High King of Hyrule, the Land of the Stars, garmented in luxurious golden robes, bearing the Golden Phoenix and the Gift of the Gods within the embroidery of his office, and upon his head sat a thin crown of jewels. His aged face, rigid yet wrinkled, rested in his ringed hand as he pondered in silence. His grey eyes stared at the floor which Impa stood upon, or at the tapestries garlanding the great hall.

Impa had seen this place many times, and bothered not to look upon it again. Between the columns stood the busts of his forefathers, the previous Kings of Hyrule, including the first Heroes.

Knights stood sentinel at every entrance, and his personal guard stood at the ready beside his throne. These were set apart from every other knight with their helmets, which were very busts of the Golden Phoenix itself, and capes that flowed down to the heels of their boots.

Harkanion's mind still dwelt upon her words after so many minutes. Impa wished that her words were convincing enough for him. She wished that he would listen to her, after all these years of her service to the Royal Family, to the princess, and to the nation.

He then threw a thoughtful looked at her. He did not trust her. He looked away to think some more.

Impa then knew what his mind had dwelt on for that moment, for him to cast such an unfavorable face. He remembered what happened long ago. She figured she did what was best for the family, but Harkanion still could not forgive her.

He finally stood up, taking his scepter from its place on his armrest, and walking to the window as he gripped it tightly.

"Does my daughter agree?" he said tersely.

"She was the one who proposed I talk to you."

He glowered down at her. "She couldn't talk to me herself, then, huh."

She did not react to such downplay. "It seems to Milady that you are too busy to speak to her at the dinner table, even when she is merely talking of a boy she met in the marketplace."

His eyes fumed with horror. "What? When did she ever go to the marketplace?"

"Last Friday, Milord."

"And you _let_ her?" he fumed, stopping at the very top step. She could read his movements that he was tempted to go down the steps and glower in her face.

"She was of sound mind, Milord, and I felt it right that the people's word of mouth be quelled by her presence."

"Impa, we are at very stressful times and you allow this nation's heiress, whom the nation suspects of _purjury_, to walk amongst her people? She could have been harassed!"

"She was not."

"She could have been…"

"Are you so irrational, Milord? Hath the shades of the past clouded you?"

Harkanion's face tensed. He turned his face to the window instead of reply.

"Milord, you cannot trust that man no more."

"You base such a warning upon _what_ facts, Impa?" he asked without looking to her, his voice rising in anger. "And you suggest such a warning upon my most trusted man!"

"He's very shady a man, Milord."

"He's earned his privacy."

"He's been vacant from your side."

"He's very busy!"

"He has been absent from the castle and from his duties as your advisor for a month and a half!"

"MINE IS NOT THE ONLY CARETAKING HE HAS TO MIND!" Harkanion bellowed with such a powerful voice that the knights beside him momentarily lost their stances. Impa herself felt the wind of his voice brush past her elfen ears.

"He has two sides to balance, Impa: North and West. Us and _his_ people. He is trying to maintain the peace as we stand here, for his people are still belligerent towards us because of what my forefather did to them." Harkanion drew a breath, and then pointed a finger at the nursemaid. "He works to make still the wrath of his people! Remember his place, Impa. And _yours_, while you stand before me. You are NOT my political scout, nor my prophet. If you recall, Rauru died just weeks ago."

"I remember it every day, Milord, but he was not just a prophet. He was the last keeper of this family's secrets."

"Not everyone puts their eggs in a basket, Impa," he said under his breath. But Impa's supernatural hearing caught every word. And he soon realized it from the look she gave him. "I may have told him."

Impa, wishing not to expose emotion, remained silent. She could not believe such a stupid mistake had been committed by Harkanion, whom she remembered was wise as well as rational. One time, he was the pride of Hyrule, having pushed away the Moblin uprising almost single-handedly.

The fire changed him.

"If you will not listen, sire, then I shall speak no more of it. I prithee I have not offended ye, milord."

Harkanion's face remained placid, and then relaxed as he declined whatever thought he was holding onto. "I pardon ye, Impa. You and your kin have been my family's most beloved servants. Without you, my family would be… entirely gone. I can never…" he struggled to find appropriate words. That, or fight the urge to speak his mind. "…repay you and your folk. I apologize for my abuse."

"There is naught to forgive on your part, as I am but your servant, O Harkanion Ben-Ardalonion," she said, reverently bowing her head. Inside her head, she held back the urge to call him a damn, sad fool.

He nodded his head. "Is that all, Impa?"

She nodded in reply.

"Begone," he commanded.

Impa nodded, bowing once more before she turned to leave.

"I love my daughter, Impa," Harkanion said. She turned to see his face. He was deeply earnest and afraid. "I am sad that I cannot join her at the dinner table again tonight. I… am too busy. I will eat in my study again."

"I am sure she understands, Milord," Impa assured.

The King made a sheepish smile, but nothing more. Even he knew that the princess would not go to him in his study.

Impa turned back around and headed for the door, thinking how irrational Harkanion had become in his aging years. Surely, he could not have been so blind to the times, Impa thought.

Nearing the door, she pondered the next step. If the King would not believe them, then the princess would have to work in secret. Yes, Impa thought; she and I will have to work in the shadows.

She reached for the door handle, but it turned on its own. Stepping back, she allowed the door to open and let whomever it was in.

But it was _him_.

At once, her eyes glared up into his as a shadow came over her eyes, turning them into a pallid white, issuing a tacit threat to him. He merely looked as if he did not understand. He glared back, revealing the evils of his own people, as if challenging hers, before excusing himself with a smile, a bow of the head, and a dismissing walkabout towards the throne. Impa watched in disgust as the King smiled upon him favorable and then walked down the steps to grasp his hand in friendship.

Impa vanished as if a shadow, remembering a chant from the _Umbralogues_:

There's a devil within

To open without:

Eating its way

Eating him out.


	4. An Empty Shell

_Chapter 2 _

_An Empty Shell_

Rain came upon the forest, forcing every child to run for shelter. It was an unusual rain, for it seemed to have come out of nowhere on what was initially a clear day that morning.

"It's the work of the skull kids," said Fado.

"Pfft, I wouldn't give 'em _that_ much credit," said Taba as he took a swig from his juice in a mug.

Five days had passed since the Slingshot Accident. Since then, all slingshots were illegal. The whole truth got so muddled in gossip that no one really cared who actually caused the blow to the eye. They simply blamed Link and Mido altogether.

Link sat with Fado, Taba and Nono on the veranda of Nono's house, protected from the rain by the canopy of Nono's treehouse. Fado and Taba were playing chess while Nono patiently carved a wooden figurine with his dagger. The fairies were off again to another meeting with the Great Deku Tree. Nono kept muttering that the 'fairies must be having fun dancing with the rain.'

"NO! Don't do _that_!" chirped Mael over Fado's shoulder.

"Why didn't _you_ go to this 'meeting,' you fluff-sprite?" mused Fado.

"And go through the rain? I'd rather drown in your spit!" Mael said, choosing now to lay down on his shoulder.

Fado rolled his eyes as he made his move. Taba took out his rook, leaving Fado to cast a glaring eye upon Mael, who merely stretched her small arms and yawned a most squeaky yawn.

Link remained silent. He did not want Mael to snitch on him that he had spoken at all during his punishment period. All he could do was watch them while eating the food that Nono had prepared for him and the boys.

Taba shook his head at Fado. "Skull kids? My green _bum_. Have you ever seen one? How do ya know if they even exist?"

"Well, your _face_ exists," muttered Nono as he made a few notches on the figurine's face.

Taba slowly turned to Nono, raising an eyebrow. "Your fairy."

Nono glared back at him. "Your nose."

"Your eye."

"Your ugly eye."

"Slacker."

"Knuckle-dragger."

"Bone-head."

"Wool-head."

"_Shut up_, both of you," murmured Fado, annoyed as he examined the chessboard. "Besides, would the Great Deku Tree lie about that sort of thing?"

"…No, but I ain't never _seen_ one," said Taba.

"And you ain't never gonna," said Fado. "They live far off in the woods and feed off of the wildlife. I've never seen one… but I can hear 'em."

Both Taba and Nono looked at him curiously. "Huh?"

Fado grinned. "I'd go to the edge of the forest just so I can play my linno in front of the trees. I know they like it. Something about music makes life… well, feel even more good. Anyway, so I'll be playing, and… I'll hear flutes on the other side of the edge, in the forest."

Taba and Nono's eyes glazed as they listened. Link himself was curious, for he had never heard this story.

"I made a note with my linno, and I got a reply from the forest," he continued. "Soon I did a jig, and whatever was in the forest played with me. If that don't tell you something about how mysterious these woods still are to us, I'd say they were skull kids."

"Wowwwwww," the two boys echoed.

"Man, skull kids. The first Kokiri!" mused Taba as he made a move.

Nono nodded. Then he resumed crafting his figurine, saying, "The ones that got lost in… the _Lost Woods_!"

"What's so 'lost' about them, anyway?" asked Taba.

"Taba, quit asking so many stupid questions," muttered Fado as he countered, leaving Taba's queen exposed.

"No, sincerely!" he said. "I mean, I don't remember…"

"The word is the trees in the woods like to move… a lot," said Fado.

"And some even eat other things in the forest," said Nono.

Taba gulped. "Golly."

"So, you try leaving a mark on a tree, you get two things done to you. A: They move around so that you end up going the wrong way. Or B: They take a chunk outta ya," Fado said.

Mael chuckled. "That's incentive enough for me, and I'm a fairy!"

"So… what makes you think the skull kids are responsible for the rain?" asked Taba.

"Well, you heard that story from the Great One about magical music, right?" asked Fado. Taba nodded. "Well, yeah. Perhaps one of those skull kids accidently put a few notes together and actually caused the rain to fall."

"How come that hasn't happened to you?" asked Taba.

Fado slowly raised his eyes, and made an ambivalent grin.

Mael smacked him in the cheek. "OH HUSH, Fado. Y'ain't that special."

Fado chuckled, and the other boys followed suit.

The day went on, and eventually the rain ended, but the clouds still gathered under the sun, hiding her rays from the earth below. Fado said he felt like going for a walk, and asked if the other boys wanted to join. "Hey, we might find something to throw rocks at. Or something."

The boys agreed. Link figured they didn't include him in that remark, but as soon as he began to splinter off from the group they dragged him back and knuckled his head, calling him a 'knuckle-head.' Mael seemed to not mind how playful they were with him.

"So, Mael," Fado inquired. "You're not being all 'rules-bee-rules-zee.' What gives?"

"Eh, he's two days away from having the punishment lifted, and he's been really good. PLUS, Fai ain't around, so I dun see the foul," said Mael.

Fado laughed and rubbed his finger into the orb of light to stroke the fairy's head. This gave the fairy pleasure, for she giggled happily.

"So, where to, Fado?" asked Taba.

"Uhhhhhhhhhh…" Fado muttered.

"There aren't any fairies around," spoke Taba.

Then everyone looked at Mael. She said nothing.

Fado grinned, and he scratched his chin.

* * *

Link looked on as Fado quietly, and sneakily, crept forward. Fado slowly crept forward towards the sleeping scrub, making sure not to wake it up.

While walking around the perimeter of the forest, they came across the business deku scrub Poltus was arguing with, asleep on a bent over tree trunk (what it was doing was no one's knowledge).

Link and the boys could barely stifle their laughter, and Fado kept rearing his hand to their general direction, signalling them to shut up. When he came next to the scrub, he waited a moment. Then he waved a hand in front of its face. No response.

He grinned. He carefully maneuvered the pail of water on a spot right next to the scrub so that it would not tip. Then, slowly, ever so slowly, he took its wooden hand and placed it in the pail. Once that was done, Fado crept back to the boys who watched on from a few yards away.

They watched, and waited. Nothing. The deku scrub was unresponsive.

Nono sighed. "Fado, I tolja that trick don't work on anything other than us Kokiri."

"Shhh, it might do it," he said, eyes glued to the creature deku scrub.

"What if it wakes up? It might get angry as us!" said Taba.

"SHH!" hushed Fado. "Let's watch!"

"Besides, what's the best it could do, sell our feet?" said Nono.

"It could pelt its nuts at us!" hushed Taba.

"Haha… you said nuts," chuckled Nono.

"Listen, stupid—"

"GODS, boys, shut up!" hissed Mael. Even she was watching intensely.

Suddenly, the deku scrub let out a moan. Everyone's eyes were glued to the creature.

Then, out of its head, came a shower of water that carried a strangely greenish hue to it.

An uproar of laughter burst out of the boys. Fado especially was proud of himself, slapping his thigh and laughing out loudly.

The deku scrub woke up to a shower of water on itself, knocking over the pail of water in confusion. Then, realizing what _it_ was doing, realizing the pail, and then noticing the boys and the fairy laughing, it put two and two together. It got mad. Its glowing eyes turned to narrow lines furrowed downward, and it began to huff and puff.

The boys stopped laughing, and immediately turned around and fled as the deku scrub began shooting deku nuts at them from its snout.

The troupe laughed their way back to safety, finally stopping and allowing themselves a chance to laugh and breathe. Link had not laughed so hard in a long while. Even Mael was beside herself.

"Fado," gasped Nono between breaths. "You… are the greatest." And they clapped hands.

"I can't believe you did that!" said Taba.

"_We_, Taba," said Fado with agrin.

"We?"

"Yeah. You didn't stop me!"

They laughed again.

Fado smiled. "Aha, I finally got you to smile, Link."

The blond boy made another chuckle, rubbing his side sorely. He really laughed himself into a sore muscle.

Fado's smile faded as he looked off. "Oh no, brace yourself, Link."

Link turned around, and there was Mido and his mates, Gabo and Sofert. Link's day grew darker, and not because of the clouds.

"So," said Mido. "Having fun, you lot?"

"Yes, we actually are," said Fado. "I'm sure you'd understand when you and your Lost Boys stop parading like someone's being wrong."

Mido's lips pursed and he crossed his chest. He glared at Link, but said nothing.

"Mido, leave the boy be," Mael cautioned.

"Aren't you supposed to be at the meeting?" growled Mido.

Mael stammered for words.

Mido scoffed, muttering 'wait'll I tell Fai' under his breath.

"Why don't you go somewhere else, I think Haro likes being pestered at this time of day," said Fado.

"Why don't _you_? I could have you on punishment like Link is."

"Great. At least we can play games while we're the only one's on punishment."

Mido's eyes blinked. "I'll… think of something better for you."

"Just try it, Mido," warned Fado. Mael hovered over his ear, cautioning him heavily.

"We'll take a fall for him if it means beating your butt, Fake-o," blubbered Gabo.

"Keep you on the downside _with us_," said Sofert.

"Pfft, might as well take you _all_ on, Gabo!" said Taba.

"Gotcha back, Fado, you know that," said Nono, clustering around Fado.

"No, stop it!" said Mael, hovering over everyone else.

"You small 'uns versus me alone is just a challenge. Sofert'll bust ya while you try me on for size!" said Gabo.

"And I got boney knuckles," said Sofert.

"NO! HALT! SILENCE!" ordered Mael. Other Kokiri in the area were starting to coral around the scene keenly.

Mido glared at Link, "You should just back away, Mr. No Fairy. I'm in a bad mood today."

Link's fists clenched.

Mido grinned. "Yeah, try it. Land one, RIGHT here!" he said, pointing to his face.

Link's mind flashed to his conversation with the Great Deku Tree.

"Do it!" Mido chimed over the debate between the other boys.

Link couldn't. Shouldn't.

"TRY ME! I'M READY FOR YOU NOW, BLUE-EYE!" the boys were getting belligerent. Fado was close to smacking Gabo in the face, and Mael was trying to get in between Sofert, Nono and Taba.

But it was so tempting! Bystanders were watching them, wondering if Link was going to punch him.

"STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!" shouted Mael.

"I'll purple your lips!" threatened Taba to Sofert.

"DO IT!" yelled Mido.

Link's mind was set. He was going to do i-

Then, there was a loud, shrill shriek from afar.

Everyone stopped their yelling and harrumphing. Everyone looked to see where the shriek came from. Even Link and Mido even looked away from one another. It seemed that the shriek came from the Great Deku Tree's direction.

Silence stirred. Then someone shrieked again, and then another along with it. Terror filled their voices.

All of a sudden, the fairies returned, racing in the air down the road towards the Link and the group. Multiple fairies splintered off to coral Kokiri together, hurriedly and excitedly. Terror quaked in their tiny voices.

"HURRY! Get inside! NOW! GET INSIDE!"

Link watched as his friends' and enemies' fairies reached them, telling them to get into a housing now. The sound of fear in their voices made everyone shake in tension and excitement, but confusion most of all.

"No time to explain! Get inside now!" gasped Fai into Mido's face.

A flurry of images raced in Link's mind. He saw faces rushing everywhere, fairies flying in chaotic patterns to find their wards.

Everyone began running into every house that was nearby. The Kokiri in the field began amassing into the farmhouse as if a storm was coming. Link found himself being pushed by Mael and Lotl along with Mido and Fado as they rushed for Sofert's house, which was closest to them.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to quake. Link, Mido, and Fado stopped. Something moved through the earth underneath them.

"NO!" cried the fairies. "Don't sto—"

At once, the ground erupted, sending earth and subterraneous material in all directions, including the three boys. Link felt as if he flew for miles, when realy it was only a couple of feet, and landed on his back with a thud. It took him a moment to subside the pain, and then opened his eyes at the eruption. He suddenly grew very still.

Towering right over him and staring into his face was the biggest deku baba he had ever seen; veiny, gooey, and ferocious. Its head was big enough to chomp his own clean off his shoudlers with rows of razor-sharp teeth that stood like gates of death amid a mouth of a rank stench. It emitted a deep growl from some depths of its stamen, the veins covering its bulbous head pulsating at an abnormal rate as it did. It had no eyes, no ears or nose, but it knew that Link was right there.

Link stared back into the depths of its mouth, unsure of how to act, feeling the surge of adrenaline pumping in through his heart and coarsing throughout his body. What to do?

Then, the fairies began attacking the giant deku baba by slamming themselves into it. Their light seemed to burn it, and the deku baba reacted violently to it. As it reared back, it chomped at the air, and swallowed multiple fairies whole, their lights extinguished as they were forced down its throat.

The Kokiri around gasped in horror as their guardians were devoured by the beast. Then the ground around them began to quake, and they fled in terror.

Fado and Mido jumped to their feet and called to Link, who remained unaware of their calls. The movements under the ground soon moved to them, and out sprang two more deku baba monsters who then began chomping in the air at them.

Link saw them then. He had to react. They would all be dead, along with the fairies that were trying to distract the babas. But he had no weapons! He thought hard about what to do.

"Link!" shouted a voice. Link looked, and it was Saria holding something covered in cloths in her arms before tossing it into the foray.

The item landed in the deku baba's mouth, breaking a few teeth as it did. The creature immediately expelled it right before Link without any concern towards it, taking a moment to growl at the pain that seared in its gums.

As the item fell, the cloths parted to reveal a small sword in a sheath.

But Link froze. The deku baba had gotten over the pain, and was rearing its head to take a big chomp into Link.

He rolled! Dodging its horrendous jaw, he managed to avoid its deathly bite and while grabbing the sword. His hand felt the scabbard, and grabbed tightly, and then flung it vehemently at the beast. Slamming into its hide, all it did was bruise it. It grew irritable, now.

Mido and Fado had collected nasty bites, for their arms and legs were bleeding expeditiously. All they had were deku sticks and fairies who tried their best to not be eaten while attempting to distract the babas.

The big deku baba converged onto Link, who kept using the sheathed sword like a shield every time it tried to chomp at him.

But enough was enough. There was no more time.

Link rolled out of the way and pulled the small sword from its sheath, sending a shearing sound of sharp steel in the air, and pointed it at the deku baba. The deku baba chomped threatningly, and then launched its head at him.

Exhaling forcibly, he moved to the side, closed his eyes and swung.

He felt it cut through something. Opening his eyes, he saw the babas head rolling onto the grass, blooding profusely from its slice… and it was still chomping!

Mido cried. Link's instincts took over. He found himself running over the smaller deku babas, slicing them through their stamen and then digging the point of the sword until the things was covered in green slime. The other babas attempted to attack, but it too fell to his sword.

Then, Link just stopped. All around him, there was silence. Mido and Fado looked on him, as if seeing something out from a story. The fairies simply stared at him.

The big deku baba's head was still alive, its mouth chomping for something to eat, until Link raised his sword and plunged it deep into its hide. The thing died after a few digs.

Moments passed, and Link remained silent as he gazed at the dead plants… the dead _monsters_. He vanquished them. He saved lives.

Kokiri slowly came out of their houses, corralling around the slimy scene. They looked at the now dead deku babas, then to Link. They began to whisper to one another into a loud chorus of speech, commenting on how clean he remained while everything else around him had been covered in deku baba slime.

Link then caught Saria's gaze, and their eyes met. She looked amazed, but there was a touch of sadness in her eyes. She gave a weak smile that seemed to hold secrets.

"You… you saved us!" Fado gasped.

Mido remained deathly silent.

Word soon spread about Link's endeavor and how he slew the monsters that suddenly appeared in the woods. The Kokiri began asking questions, but got no answers. Eventually, they began to form groups to gang up on the fairies.

"Please," said Fai. "Do no trouble us! We have lost many brothers and sisters! For those who have no fairies, we need to take you to safe place until we can get you new fairies!"

"What if we don't?" yelled Yeda.

"My Kimi died and I wanna know why!" cried Evan.

"Our brothers and sisters died because of those evil deku baba. We will take care of things!" Fai desperately said. She and a great number of fairies were surrounded in front of the shop, outside the Great Deku Tree's meadow.

"Why did those things show up? What is going on?" Kokiri began to clamor.

"Why are you having these meetings that we can't go to?" clamored Mido.

"Don't you start, Mido—" started Fai.

Link yelled at her in Mido's defense. Everyone looked at him oddly, including Mido.

Fai was taken aback, wordless.

Mael hovered near her and whispered a few words.

"Fine," Fai said. "I'll tell you. The Great Deku Tree… is sick."

Words exchanged between Kokiri in horror. A din occurred.

"Please, please, please!" shouted Fai, but she was reaching nobody. Soon, other Kokiri were trying to calm the crowd down, but they were drowned out by cries and yells.

"HEY!" a single voice shouted that silenced _everyone_.

It came from a single blue fairy who appeared behind the crowd. Hers was an unusual hue of blue, unlike any other fairy the Kokiri met. She was special.

"LISTEN!" she commanded. "Things are not going well for us all. The Great Deku Tree has been under great pains, and has commanded that you all go into your homes until he is better. Now, you know the law as much as I do. Everyone get inside your homes _now; _we will let you know when things are better!"

Slowly, everyone listened. The huge group of Kokiri disintegrated and headed home.

Mido approached Link, and they locked eyes but said nothing. Mido then looked away, hung his head, and walked away.

Fado approached Link, "Well… buddy… a lot of us are thinking of crashing at Mido's place. He's offered to shelter the fairy-less, and, well… um… since you don't…"

Link said he understood, and said he would go with him.

But then he felt something tap his shoulder. It was the blue fairy.

"You, come with me," she said.

A moment lapsed before Link realized what she said. He asked if she meant him.

"No, the only other blond kid; YES, you. The Great Deku Tree needs to see you."

Link looked back at Fado, telling him to keep a bowl of soup warm for him. Fado nodded, though worriedly, and watched as Link followed the blue fairy down the path to the meadow.

The path to the meadow changed. The air was no longer sweet, the plants and trees no longer full of life. There was a great wrong afoot in the woods. Was this blue fairy going to answer his questions? Why did the Great Deku Tree need _him_, Mr. No Fairy? Gold-head?

"Just follow," the fairy said tersely in reply.

Link commented that he had never held a sword before, yet it felt good in his hands. The fairy said nothing. Link felt put down by her silence.

They came to the meadow, and Link wanted to puke. The air was rank with the stench of a swamp nearby, and of death. Then he looked upon the Great One, whose canopy had withered to skinny branches and whose trunk had whittled and decayed.

The blue fairy left Link to stand on the grassy knoll as she hovered in front of the Great One's face, which tensed and twitched in tremendous pain.

"O Great Deku Tree! I brought him! And he has the sword just as you requested!" she chimed.

Link looked down at the sword. How did Saria come upon this sword? He had never seen it at the house.

The Great Deku Tree's eyes opened lazily, and looked at the fairy. "Thank thee, O Navi." His voice was labored and it wheezed painfully. Then he looked down upon Link, who looked back in shock.

Link told the Great Deku Tree that he looked sick.

The Great Deku Tree managed a weak smile. "Alas, O Child, I am dying."

Link's heart sank. He even lost his breath and grip upon his sword. He asked how the Great Deku Tree of all beings could be dying.

The Great Deku Tree replied, "All things in this world die, my good child… but… I have no time to tell thee such things… I die as we speak, and yet I…" his pained face gnarled and so made the sounds of grinding wood, hard enough to make Link cringe.

Navi cried to herself and tried to stifle her weeping.

The Great Tree regained some composure. "Link… there is no time… for these past few moons, my slumber has been troubled by nightmares… for evil servants descend upon the world again… and as they gain strength… the vile climate pervades the senses of those sensitive to it… spawning visions in the night… through nightmares…"

Link's mind dwelt upon his nightmares of late. It wasn't coincidence, then?

"Yes… thou hast felt it too, hast thou not?"

Link nodded.

"Link, now is the time that thou must arise to the call. I have been _**cursed**_."

Navi and Link gasped.

"An evil is within me… I cannot expel it… not without thee. I need thee to steel thy mind and face the evil that is within me… or else let it spread throughout the entire woodland realm, which has been the source of life to these… these… wonderful lands… for many thousands of years… can thou do this?"

Link looked down at the sword laying beside his feet. His reflection beamed back at him, asking him if he was brave enough to do it. He was alone, and remained alone even with friends. There was no way he could live here forever, and never be truly happy. No way.

He bent down and picked it up by its hilt, and then told the Great Deku Tree: "Yes, I can."

The Great Deku Tree weakly smiled. "Good… then enter me through my mouth, for it is the only way into me… Navi, thou must go with him, for he must not fight in the dark… he must not _be_ in the dark anymore…"

Navi hovered over Link's shoulder, accepting the commandment. "Yes, O Deku Tree."

Then, with a great cacophony of grinding wood, the Great Deku Tree lowered the lower portion of his mouth until a gaping hole appeared in the side of his trunk. Deep beyond the sides of his mouth lay darkness.

Link took a deep breath, and then took the first steps down the decline towards the hole.

"Wait, Link," Navi stopped him abruptly.

Turning to her, he asked what.

She paused, as if forgetting what she meant to say. Then she blurted: "Let's do this."

Link nodded. Then, allowing Navi to hover over him, they walked into the Great Deku Tree.


	5. Queen Gohma

_Chapter 3 _

_Queen Gohma_

It seemed that the stench seeped out of the Great Deku Tree from inside the walls, for it was even fouler inside. The smell got worse as they proceeded slowly down the strange corridor that was the Deku Tree's throat.

Suddenly the light behind them vanished as the Deku Tree closed his mouth. A voice echoed overhead, clearly his booming voice: "I must shut off the entrance. I cannot risk the curse from escaping me. Make haste, and destroy it!"

Link quickened his steps, Navi hurriedly casting light around him, down the narrrow.

Link wondered aloud how deep the Deku Tree's insides went.

"A tree's roots go far deep. The Great Deku Tree must be a labyrinth," she replied.

Link gulped, saying it would probably take forever to find the curse. Then he asked what the curse looked like.

"Beats me," she said aloud, hoping the Great Deku Tree was listening, but there came no response.

The stench was incredibly foul. Link tried covered his nose with his hood, but that only blinded him. Navi said 'stupid' upon noticing.

The throat seemed to go on for a long time until the walls began to widen erratically, getting larger exponentially until he could barely touch the roof with an outstretched hand.

Link asked if this was what his throat looked like.

"No, I don't think it's an actual throat, Link," Navi said sardonically, her gaze upon the walls.

Then Link noticed it. He stopped, and he beckoned Navi's light to observe the wall. Tracing his hands, he stated that there were marks. Teeth marks.

Navi let out a scared groan. "O Gods… what could eat a tree?"

Link proposed a giant deku baba.

"No, deku baba don't eat other plants," she said. "This is something else."

The walls widened even more, almost enough to fit Link's house in.

"Something fairly big," Navi continued.

Then, Link found himself in an empty cavern, and could not see the walls through the dark.

"…we may have a problem," Navi muttered.

Pitter patter of feet echoed in the air. Link's eyes darted everywhere, trying to catch a glimpse as Navi's light beamed forward like a lamplight. Navi herself began to shiver.

More pitter patter. There was more than one thing in the cavern with them.

Then, the sound of something bubbling arose in the air, and then it was multiplied into a cacophony of a grotesque chorus as the pitter patter of tiny feet also multiplied. Link shivered in fear, but the sword in his hand inspired him to feel ready to take on the unknown.

Link beckoned that Navi adjust her light to reveal their enemy.

His face grew pale when the light revealed many enemies. Nearing more than twenty.

All around him and Navi was a multitude of monstrosities, little demons in spider form. Their bulbous bodies ranged from small to head-sized, and in each body glared a single multi-colored eyeball, with black irises. Their furry sacs were supported by three tubular appendages, of what function Link could not gather to define other than freak him out, and protected by pincers which seemed to hang over its mouth.

He hated spiders.

"These are not spiders, Link," Navi said, her voice monotone to contain the freak-out in her mind. "They are _gohma_, and they are deadly even in infant form."

Link began backing away from the crowd which followed him intensely, urging him backwards. He asked how to kill them.

"I… I don't know?" she gasped. "I've only _heard_ of them!"

At once, a baby gohma jumped forward, attempted to bite at his feet with its pincers. He swiped at it with his sword, which only made it cower back.

Then the edge of his heel touched an edge. Not wanting to look away, he asked Navi what he was standing over.

"…A hole!" she gasped.

Link groaned.

Suddenly a gohma jumped for his head. He just barely managed to dodge it, and then found himself wrestling his sword out of another's pincers. As another came to outflank him, he gave a quick stomp in its eye, which made it shriek and spin in circles away from him. Another gohma reared to bite his foot, and he swiped his sword at it.

"They have really big eyes," said Navi. "Don't look. They're starting to come from behind."

Link asked if from the hole. "No, they're skirting around it."

He knew he could not fight them all off. He couldn't. But falling down the hole only meant he would die.

Then he wondered which death was less scary.

It took Navi a whole second to figure out where Link went when he vanished. He jumped down the hole, screaming at the top of his lungs.

He felt his feet hit ground, but not flat ground. Pain shot up from his ankles to his butt as he found himself rolling down a long decline, which then smoothed to a flat floor. He rolled violently for several rotations before he stopped, with his sword clanging down after him. Once his sword stopped flat, he laid still to subside the pain. It hurt a lot doing what he just did.

But he was alive.

Navi soon illuminated his face, gasping for air after chasing him. "That was stupid, but at least your sword isn't broken."

Link thanked her for her consideration.

He slowly got onto his feet, grunting as the pain trickled in his legs. He took several steps, hoping nothing had been seriously hurt. No, it was just going to be an annoying pain.

Then he remembered the stench. And it was worse than before.

"We're closer," said Navi. "And the offspring won't go anywhere down the hole. They're afraid."

Link asked of what.

"Mom."

The air was stiff. It was hard to breathe. But Link felt the need to go on, despite how distant he felt from the outside. The Great Deku Tree's fate rested solely in his hands.

He and Navi walked for what seemed to be ages. The air remained profuse with the smell of it, as if a carcass had been rotting for hundreds of years. The smell of root was insignificant. The curse, the mother of the offspring, was a glutton.

After a while, they came across a fork in the cavern. It seemed that the progenitor had been eating her way into the very roots. They took one turn, the one that smelt the worst. They came across more turns and other forks in the way, taking whatever was the most stinky.

Then, they came to a dead halt. A wall.

"This must be where she stopped eating," Navi said. "But then where did _she_ go?"

Link felt nervous. He suggested they run back to the last fork they crossed and take the other way. Navi hastily agreed, and they ran back hard.

The stink grew even worse.

"She's here," Navi muttered.

Link looked wherever the fairy's light permitted, but there was nothing to be seen.

Then he heard a bubbling sound.

Without risking another second, he darted down the other way, knowing fully well that his objective had reversed itself.

_She_ had found _them_.

They could hear her, clambering after them, heavy enough to be a huge body. Her bubbly sounds of hunger pervaded his ear drums, almost as loudly as his heart beat. Navi was yards ahead of him, yelling for him to run faster.

He thought his very neck would explode with his heart pumping out of it.

At long last, they came to a huge opening. His feet ran on moistened, churned dirt. Apparently, they came out of an abrasion in the root. Link ran farther forward into this subterraneous cave, turned around and pointed his sword at his foe.

She crept out slowly, knowing she had cornered her prey, and at her own pace. She had him trapped.

Her offspring had carried the same traits as she, but hers was in full fruition. A great eye glared at him, pulsing in a blood-red and pus-yellow. She had to burst through the root in order to fit through the opening, for she had grown fat from her gluttony. Her appendages were more pronounced than her children, and plus she had three more, totaling to five limbs, three of which cradled her bulbous body while the other two, each with claws at the ends, snapped eagerly. Her body was covered not in natural flesh, but in a metallic armor-casing, as if her skeleton grew on the outside of her gigantic body.

"This was the queen," Navi said.

Link gripped his sword. He was going to cut this bug down.

…but how, he did not know.

At once, the queen quickly maneuvered herself to the side as he advanced, able to move fast with such a huge body. He slashed menacingly (at least somewhat menacingly) at the air in front of him, to irk her. She let out a series of bubbly laughs, scoffing at his attempt to look serious.

"She comprehends," Navi said, analytically.

Then she raised one of her bigger legs. Link anticipated her move, and dodged her stomp. He then lashed out at it with the sword, only to have it clang uselessly against her armor.

He was too slow to expect the next leg to come after him. It rammed into his legs, spiraling him in the air and landing on his stomach with a heavy thud. Feeling dizzy, he realized that his sword was gone.

The queen's mandible pincers moved excitedly as she moved to slam her body upon him. But lo! Navi intervened, radiating her light brilliantly. The queen shrieked, backing away from the troublesome light and trying to knock it away with one of her smaller appendages.

Link slowly regained his senses and started rummaging through the dirt, trying to find his sword. He called for Navi's light, and when she moved to illumine his sight, Queen Gohma grasped her in one of her smaller appendages and then gulped her whole, plotting out the light entirely.

Panic gripped him. Now his only guide-and, for a little while, is own fairy-was gone in a blink of an eye. All Link could see now was Gohma's eye. He was entirely alone. And the eye beamed at him intensely as she moved to him, slowly. Her breath quivered with anticipation to eat this little boy who thought could kill her.

And it then it quivered with something else. A choke. It couldn't breathe. It was choking on Navi.

Then, Link's hand touched cold steel. Finding the grip, he took it proudly into his hands, and while the beast struggled to regain her breath, he wildly lashed out at her eye. The sword just barely graced her eye, yet it was enough to splice its outer layer. At once she shrieked, and she backed away with a jump, using her smaller appendages to ward him back.

Link, full of rage, urged her to fight back, pumping his fist at her. She only cried and backed away. Neither could see the other, but one was more afraid of the other despite his size.

Then, Gohma let out another choke, and PLUP Navi jumped out from her mouth, shaking off slime and spittle off her wings as she soared to freedom.

"GODS! I'm back!" she cried out, breathing for air.

In Navi's light, Gohma looked miserable. Her eye closed, she used her free arms to try and protect it as much as possible while her legs pressed her deep against the dirt wall.

Link moved closer, swearing to end its misery.

Then, a gurgling sound came out of Gohma. He hardly noticed initially until now, but between her body and each of her her 'armpits' was a strange blue hair collective. At this time, the gurgling was due to eggs being pushed out of her orifices, which then splattered onto the dirt.

A moment passed, then the two eggs burst open as two new offspring woke and charged headfirst for Link. Swiping away the first with his sword, he kicked the second backwards straight in the air. The first recoiled and jumped on him as he turned around, its pincers snapping for his neck. He rolled over until he was on top of it, and with a free hand he dug his fingers into its eye. Slime and blood exploded onto him, and the creature twitched violently in horrendous pain.

The second jumped on him, landing on his back and landing pincers in his skin. He shrieked and fell backwards, crushing the vermin upon impact and exploding its contents all over. The first gohma stopped twitching a few seconds later.

Standing up, covered head to toe in slime and blood, he noticed a light glaring at him. Gohma's eye had recovered, although bloodied and severely hemorrhaging. Pure anger beamed down upon him.

Gohma was upon him in a second. One pincer grabbed the sword and flung it to the side, with the other reaching for his eyes. He was able to break an arm free soon enough to grab the pincer, and repeatedly rolled his head back and forth to avoid being emaciated. Gohma's eye, dripping blood upon him, pressed down upon him.

He spat at the eye. Gohma recoiled but did not back off. Link used this chance to bring his knee up and thump into her eyeball. This made her back off.

He turned over and began to crawl away when he felt a pincer grab at his boot, initiating a tug-o-war. Quickly, he kicked the pincer away, and crawled away and onto his feet.

No sword. What to do?

His slingshot. He still had it. It also had a nut still prepped for launch.

As Gohma opened her eye, Link released and sent the deku nut soaring into her eye, exploding its dust and particles all over her already wounded eyeball.

She shrieked as never before, for the pain was incessant and prickling. She picked at her eye, but it was no use. She could not fight.

Navi found his sword. Link retrieved it and then stood before the beast.

She quivered, paused, and then with a last ditch effort sent every arm to attack him.

Her arms never reached their target, for a sword was dug deep into her eye, which fatally ended her.

All movement stopped. The color of her eyes paled and then turned to darkness. Her skin boiled, withered and then dried up and crumpled like a rotten leaf. Every bit of her body shriveled and went limp until she rolled onto her back and laid very still. Link waited until she struck again.

No use. The queen was dead.

Link breathed a sigh of victory. He had vanquished the evil.

Then he remembered the offspring.

"I don't know," said Navi. "There are too many for you to fight."

A light trickled upon his face, from above. Looking up, a hole appeared in the dirt ceiling. Looking down from above showed Saria's face.

"Link!" she gasped, excitedly

"He's alive?" cried a voice.

"Hurry! Get the vine!"

At once, a long sinuous vine was lowered down to Link. Grasping it, with sword in hand, he was raised to the outside.

A hand reached out and he took it before he lost his grip, and he climbed out of the hole. Following the hand to the face, Link was surprised to see that it was Mido.

In fact, the entire village had congregated into the meadow. Taba and about six other Kokiri boys had gathered together to pull him out of the hole. Even the deku scrub helped, having supplied the vine.

The crowd was beside itself. They praised him and lauded him, calling him a hero. At first disgusted by the blood and slime, they ignored it for the sheer fact of what he had accomplished.

"You killed _that_?" Fado looked into the hole and saw the upturned spider-queen's body. He shivered at the sight of it, and so did anyone who looked at it.

"Wow, Link, you… you got guts!" said Poltus.

Saria rushed over to him to embrace him, no matter how dirty he was. She wrapped his arms around him so tight he couldn't breathe. She had not hugged him this tightly since he accidently went into the Lost Woods on his own.

He even told her that her hug hurt.

"I don't care!" she said, tears in her eyes. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

Link saw Mido in the corner of his eye, merely watching. He did not know what to make of this.

Then, the Great Deku Tree's booming voice silenced the crowd: "Link… come here…"

Link broke the embrace, looking into Saria's eyes and smiling, and then approached the grassy knoll. He held his chin up before his deity.

The Deku Tree smiled, weakly. "Thou hast braved the darkness within me and cleansed me. The offspring hath no chance of surviving on their own. They shall die… with me."

A gasp, a string of hushed whispers, and blank stares responded. They could not believe he said that. He was their deity, and gods cannot die. At least, according to myth. Even the deku scrub was horrified.

"What do you mean?" gasped Fai.

The Great Deku Tree sighed. "The curse was too deep… and lived in me for too long… although your efforts have cleansed me, I cannot… live for long… the creatures in me must die with me, or suffer spreading to you all."

Tears came out of eyes, and everyone's heart sank to a deep place of despair. Link himself fell to his knees. He cried out that his efforts were useless, that he did it all for nothing.

"No!" gasped the Great Deku Tree. "Thou hast proven thyself a true warrior, Link! None may be so bold in this time to hold such a rank as you, O Link! But I cannot live; it cannot be so!"

"We'll kill the rest of the curse in you, then!" shouted a voice, and the crowd agreed in unison.

"It is too late, my children! And they far outnumber you. There is no other way… I must die."

Link cried out, asking why he had to prove himself. What was the point?

The Deku Tree did not paused even a slight moment when he said, "Because you must leave here at once."

All eyes fell upon Link. Him? Leave the _forest_?

"Link, before my passing, I must tell thee one more tale… Listen…" a momentary silence. "An evil man hath laid this curse upon me. Thou hast seen him! In the dreams! He ist the man most responsible for our current misery, for thy eventual loss of me… he is a horrid man, twisted by the cruel fates that conspired to bend him to such madness. Evil is his master, and greed guideth him. He came here… on his great black warhorse…"

Link looked to the ground, realizing what the marks in the grass were.

"And demanded that I relinquish to him… that which was given to me… to protect."

At once, down the grassy knoll and within the bark, a minute green light emanated out from his bark. "Link, break the bark about it, and take it."

Link approached the trunk where the light appeared, and tore at the bark to reveal what was buried inside. A small green emerald, the size of his palm, and encased in a sinuous golden frame, forming a G/

"Go ahead, take it," said the Deku Tree, hurriedly.

Link's hand reluctantly traced over its smooth surface, feeling a warm radiance. He scooped it out and then thoroughly looked at it before looking back up at the Deku Tree.

"This… is the Kokiri Emerald… I had to protect it…"

Link asked what it was.

"No time…" moaned the Great Deku Tree. "Know this: protect that jewel with thy life. And as I said, thou must go from this woodland realm. Thou must leave."

Again, the crowd broke into whispers.

Link asked where he had to go. He asked if he was meant to go and hide the jewel.

"There was… another… in the dream… dost thou remember?"

Link did.

"She be Princess Zelda, the last of her line in the land of Hyrule, which layeth just outside these Lost Woods. North thou must go; _far_ north. Thou must find the Blue Tower at the bottom of a mountain that holds a ring of smoke at its highest peak."

Link asked how he could leave the forest, being a small boy and all.

The Great Deku Tree's eyes opened widely. "No time! I… I feel… my time is come!"

Everyone responded differently. Some clutched their chests, some began crying, others stayed deathly silent. The fairies hovered nervously. Link's eyes widened in horror. His heart beat heavily. His mind raced. His mouth twitched for words, only to ask why it had to be him, saying he could not do it.

The Great Deku Tree shook his canopy. "No, Link… avoid such sad words… for... you… you were always meant to leave…"

Link was speechless. Disbelief clouded his mind.

He smiled. "Do not let fear take you… in time… it will ruin you…"

The Great Deku Tree, now at death's door, looked at all his children with loving eyes, gazing into each with unconditional love. "I will miss thee all, most of all the things that I will miss in this world… of thee, I will miss the most… good… bye…"

His eyes meandered everywhere, as if something had been pulled off his face. He looked the world with fresh eyes, or as if everything was now new to him. Marvel glistened in his eyes.

"Ai! Watashi o… honba desu…!" he uttered. Then his eyes faltered, and dimmed, the light behind which now turned off, and closed. At this, his bark suddenly churned and turned a pale grey, and every orifice into the bark was suddenly shut off by sap, which solidified to stone.

The Great Deku Tree had withered and then petrified himself. The Great One was dead.


	6. Child at Heart

**_Chapter 4_**

**_Child at Heart_**

Only Saria knew where Link went after the incident in the Great Deku Tree's meadow. Everyone else was too busy to care. Too busy to play.

A week passed after the Great Deku Tree's death, and things changed. The Kokiri would not openly play or engage in childish frivolity. The airs of the village, usually filled with the sound of laughter, now worked only with the winds that swept through this enclosure. Silently, the Kokiri went about their daily lives, holding a new emotion in them which paralyzed their very actions, their need to eat or drink, or to engage sociably.

Sorrow.

It felt so impossible to do their regular daily tasks as they had done so for as long as they could remember. Evan broke down crying as he gardened, unable to find the courage to weed out the deku babas, reminding him of the attack. The Know-It-All-Brothers found themselves flummoxed and unable to answer questions for the first time in their lives. Mido stayed in his house and refused to see anybody. Fai came out to gather berries for them to eat, telling curious people that 'the chief is planning and can't come out.' Fado could not find any solace in the notes his linno played, for everything seemed to sound dreadful and sad as if the wood in the linno was depressed by the current events.

The fairies hovered around the village daily and nightly. They were hard at work to keep communications between the Kokiri, who eventually began to seclude themselves in their treehouses.

These small fairy-children would not disobey the Great Deku Tree's last words. They would stay inside their homes as best as they could until he returned . Yes, they believed that the Great Deku Tree would come again, for they knew He could not leave them like this. He had to leave but would return, they believed.

To the fairies, and to any Kokiri who did come outside, the village was a sad sight as a cloud of depression hung over it.

The week the passed felt like an eternity. The village looked empty except for the forest sprites and the fairies.

Things had changed dramatically since the Deity's death.

* * *

Through 'fairy-mail,' the Kokiri conversed and preserved all of their friendships. Most of the chatter comprised of "the world is over" and "I'm sad."

Gradually, many began to ask about Link.

Everyone heard what the Deku Tree told the boy without a fairy: that he had to leave the forest. After that, the boy simply disappeared. Some of the Kokiri figured he actually got up and left. Many motioned that he died as soon as he left the village- as all Kokiri do. The lifeforce of the forest and their existance were instrinsic: these children's lives depended on the well-being and preservation of the forest. If they chose to leave, they were tacitly voicing their choice give up that luxury; that is, die.

With such facts in mind, the Kokiri agreed that Link was now dead, at which point conversation grew even more dismal and mournful. No only did they lose their deity, but they now lost their most recent hero.

A hero none of them ever thanked or praised.

* * *

But that was not so. Saria, Fado and their fairies knew where he was. They also knew, however, what the poor boy was trying to do, and so kept his whereabouts hidden until word had come back to them from him. As abysmal as the conversations were between the rest of the Kokiri, the two siblings kept their mouths shut to protect Link; to keep him from being distracted or pestered.

A week had passed, and Link returned no words to his correspondants. Lotl and Mael soon grew weary trying to coax Link into sending a few words back to his two best friends, even if they were of comfort and recognition. But no, he remained silent, and they could only tell Saria and Fado: "He's thinking."

He still had food, thanks them. Daily, Lotl and Mael carried small baskets of bread and juice and berries for him to munch on, and they had hoped such presents would open up the little boy but he was pensive while he ate, looking down at his feet or on the table or out the window.

Whether at his desk, or on his bed, or against the wall, Link meandered around the single-room of his treehouse with his mind ablaze in contemplative thought. All his life he had been introverted, dwelling in his own mind until friends called to him and thinking little things to himself. He thought to himself how alone he was. How much people did not like him. How he wished to fly away to where he could fit in. How much he wanted a friend to be by his shoulder.

These were the thoughts of one who was aware of his self-exhile and even revered himself for it. Link enjoyed being alone. At least, he thought he did.

But now, after the Great One's death, the boy did not ponder selfishly about his existence. He did not percolate thoughts which decried self-pity or hate. Instead, he replayed the events that occured a week ago in attempts to fully comprehend what had just happened to his life and the lives of all those who lived in the village with him.

_You were always meant to leave. _Link remembered that bit especially. Somehow, it hit him hard in the heart, ringing truer than any other word that the Deku Tree said to him. Was he truly, he wondered, meant to go away? After all this time, in a paradise where children could play forever without evil disturbing its tranquility, where a benevolent Deku Tree, a loving guardian, protected them from the dangers of the forest, wherein he felt detached from his fellow mates- after all this time, was it truly time for him to leave? Was it right, though?

The sword he used to free the Deku Tree from his curse rested on his desk, untouched. He had washed the blood and ooze off of it long since then, but the steel sword itself remained unused at present, although it begged to be. Now that he had a gift for using the sword, how could he leave the forest now? What if more deku babas invaded the forest? What if the trees started attacking the village? What if... what if Magu came back? AS the Great Deku Tree?

He could not find it justified to leave the forest after posing these questions. The safety of the forest now lay in his hands for he was now the swordsman, the hero. It would not be right to leave his people to their doom. But they were _not_ his people. _You were always meant to leave_. That must have meant he never truly belonged here in the first place. Everyone accepted him only out of kindness. The smart ones, like Mido, kept him away from ruining the symmatry.

But how was this possible?

The flutter of sparkling wings chimed overhead. He looked up to see Navi flying through the window.

"Hey," she said, sadly.

He said nothing, only nodding appreciatively at her for her arrival.

"I have been doing errands with the fairies, trying to collect food and convince the Kokiri to go out once in a while. They are determined to stay in."

Link did not blame them.

"Link, you yourself cannot disobey the Great Deku Tree. He gave you an order."

Link explained his reasons for staying.

"Listen," she said. "Something bigger is happening in the world today. Bigger than you. Bigger than me. Bigger than this tiny village of ours. It is happening right now, outside this forest, and it is stirring heavily. I only know this because the Great Deku Tree's sleeptalk uttered such, and by what he told us all the day he died. Whoever cursed him... he should be the one you blame. Not yourself."

Link turned away, facing the billboard with the 'to-do' list. Every item was still incomplete

Navi flew herself in front of Link, between him and the board, forcing him to look at her. He turned away again to look out the window, but she cut him off there.

"Look at me!" she commanded. He did, nonchalantly.

"You MUST leave!" she said. "You have to! That's what the Great Deku Tree said!"

Link looked down, saying nothing.

Navi sighed. "Your mind is heavy. What is wrong?"

He looked at her, feeling odd at exposing his mind and heart to a complete stranger. But, this was the first time a fairy took as much care and concern as to his well-being as Saria did every day of her life. Of course, there were moments of petulance, but they were pardonable. Still, no other being, aside from the Deku Tree, cared as much for an alien such as Link.

Link told her what he felt. What he truly felt. He said he felt afraid, inadequate to the task. He said this as he fumbled the green emerald in his hand, which weighed next to nothing yet felt smooth and hard, as well as cold to the touch. He was only a boy whom very few people cared about. Why could the Deku Tree not send a better suited person?

"Because," said Navi. "There _is_ no other person. You _are _the strongest, the smartest, the most cunning person in the entire village- maybe even the entire forest. The Deku Tree knew what he was doing when he summoned you."

Link's doubt still haunted his mind.

Navi fluttered over and then sat on his shoulder, dimming her light as she did to comfort his eyes. She paused a moment to find the right words. "Link, you are a restless lad. You have spent twelve years of your life living here, in a terrific wonderland. Twelve years... and yet you have been unhappy. So, why are you passing up on this... this fantastic thing? Link, this is your one chance to finally leave the forest. And don't give me 'I'm scared that the Kokiri will die.' They have their fairies, and they will be taken cared for, and the Deku Scrubs have offered to help them. Everyone will be safe. So why are you still here?"

Link said nothing.

Navi sighed. "Please, Link. Please. If you don't... ... if you don't, things _will_ get worse. The Great Deku Tree kept evil at bay, but now things will come here. No one can fight it... except you."

Link asked her why it was him.

She took a breath. "You did not come from here."

His eyes darted to the fairy in shock. His heart skipped. He lost his breath. He listened earnestly.

"I remember it to this day," said Navi. "The day your mother brought you here. Yes, you had a mother. Your father? Well, it was not the Great Deku Tree: he is but your foster father. I know not who your real father is. Anyways... a storm raged that night, twelve years ago from this day. Rain fell as if trying to wash away something bad in the world, maybe even to start a flood. No, no flood, but it soaked me something dreadful.

"I and several other fairies happened to be with the Deku Tree then, and we took cover under his branches. We shivered in the cold and from fear of the thunder, and we wished that it would all stop. It was as if something evil was brewing in the atmosphere. But then the Deku Tree said that he felt a present enter the forest: something new, something he had not felt in a long time.

"Something in his eyes made me realized the importance of this stranger. He _knew _the person that was coming. He could see her, even though she was miles away from here. Yes, it was your mother. She rode a horse into the woods in a hurry, as if the devil himself chased her. She drove further, shielding something in her arms from the raging rain until she was guided by the Great Deku Tree's servants to his very meadow. That something was you, an infant.

"I remember seeing her. The rain had drenched her from head to toe, and she wore elegant clothes that I had not seen for many years. She was beautiful, elegant, and absolutely gorgeous. You have her eyes. But hers that night were pained. She had been shot in the back with an arrow while she was in flight. The Deku Tree, extending his canopy to protect you and her from the rain, commanded us to take you out of her arms while another troupe of fairies lowered her to the ground from her horse. We laid you in front of her so that her fingers could grace you. She looked upon you sadly, wishing to the spirits of the woods to protect you.

"And the Deku Tree promised her that he would look after you. He would raise you into a fine young man. He even promised her that he would teach you about the world so that you may return to it when you turned nineteen. Your mother died in peace, knowing that your future would be ensured. Upon her death, her body was taken into the earth by the forest, and in her place a beautiful flower blossomed. It still stands to this day amid a glorious garden. Although now, with the Deku Tree dead and gone..." Navi said no more.

Link reminisced over all she told him, trying to take in the truth. Finally. He learned it. He was an outsider. He really _was_ meant to leave.

But, not now. He was not meant to leave now. He still had seven more years of growing.

"No, no!" said Navi. "You cannot let that stop you from leaving. All the plans that were made have now been affected by death. Pressing matters arise that require you to act _now_."

Link shook his head, looking away to hide the tears of hopelessness in his eyes.

Navi reached out with her minute hands and pulled Link's chin to face him to her. "You are so young, little child. It is so much to ask that you leave your only home, the only one you've come to live in. It may seem like a curse since you are the... well, the odd one out... but it is still home. I know how it feels. I really do."

He looked at her. With her light dimmed, he could make out the sillhouette of her tiny body.

He asked why he had to do this alone. He knew that no one else could leave the forest: they would die if they did. That was not just some law. That was a fact in Kokiri Village.

"No, Link," said Navi. "You have me. The Deku Tree instructed me to go with you, and that's what I will do. I'm... I'm no Saria, but... but damnit, I will do my best to keep you alive."

Link again spoke of how weak and inadequate he felt about the task. He asked where was he supposed to go? Who was Princess Zelda?

Navi shrugged. "I don't know, Link. What I do know is... is that you have it. Courage. Bravery. Each of us has it, but yours is almost... like destiny. You had it when your friends were in danger. You had it when you rescued the Deku Tree. It comes and goes when you need it, but it is there. After seeing you in action, I can honestly say you will do just fine. You are a smart boy, and wise beyond your years. All you need is faith, little outsider. Faith in yourself. Confidence, and the will to never quit. I'll be there to remind you, if you need. But... please... we have to go _now_."

Link looked out his window once more. Then it hit him: he had spoken words with Navi, his new fairy-yes, _his_ new fairy. It surprised him when he realized that he now had the companion he felt he needed all his life, so much that his heart lifted and he felt elated onto his feet. He felt the need to go on a journey! Now that he had shared these words with his new friend, his new guardian, and after learning the tale of his origin, the forest no longer seemed so binding to him. He felt its pull loosed off of him, as if being torn out of old clothes, sending him free from its familiar hold on him. This new feeling of excitement perused his body like electricity. The need to stay no longer rested in him. There was no real need.

Link asked what was to come of the forest when he left.

"Very hard times. Very hard, but the village _will_ survive."

Link worried about them all. Fado. Taba. Evan. Aldrin. Saria... even Mido, a little bit, despite his stupid self.

"When we complete our task and see this Princess, I am sure we can return here. Don't worry. If we can return, we will. But now... we have a job to do. Are you ready?"

Link stood up and moved to his desk. He looked down at the sword before picking it up in his hands, and then unsheathed it to stare at the blade. Reflecting back at him was his own face, asking the same question Navi just asked.

He looked at his abode. Was he ready to leave this all behind?

He pursed his lips, sheathed the sword back into its scabbard, and let it hang to the side in his hand as he turned back to Navi to say: "Let's go."

* * *

Navi and Link spent the rest of the day packing: food, cleaning supplies, a bagfull of gilfs (deku leaves used for currency), his extra tunics, undergarments and sucks, his slingshot and a bagfull of deku nuts- whatever he needed to journey with. Navi helped him craft a rucksack to carry all his important things, and showed him how to fasten the scabbard to his side. He then decided to fasten it over his shoulder instead, saying that it felt better to reach behind and pull his sword out. Navi warned him that, tactically, it was dangerous, and then carried onto another packing list item before he asked for her to explain what 'tactically' meant.

After finishing his rucksack and his packing, night arrived. Navi bade him to go to bed while she conversed with the fairies to tell them what was going on. As he slept, Link came to a shocking realization that this would be the last time he would sleep in his bed, the last time he would live in this small, fantastical village. He was going to leave all these kids, all these fairies, and all the friends he did have. Most especially Saria.

He hoped the journey would not be too long, but he had to find out where this 'Zelda' lived. Did she live just outside the forest? Was she in another forest? How old was she? Was she magic? Was she a kid like him?

He fell asleep to dreamless slumber.

The next morning he woke up alone. That being the case, he still climbed out of bed when ordinarily he would have turned over and gone back to sleep. Today was an extraordinary day. The air seemed fresh again, as if a blessing came with the sun, as if Soler's light ignited the spirit of the forest again. It all seemed to give Link energy and excitement.

As he got into his clothes and into his boots, Navi came in with Fado, who carried a small bundle of papers. He looked pale from not seeing the sun in a while, and sadness still clouded his eyes.

He smiled briefly, and then said, "Wow, Link... I... I can't believe you're actually going through with this."

Link nodded, confirming his thoughts.

"...And, you're not going to die, I take it? Or is that rule still in?"

Link told him he was not going to die. But Fado would if he left, he remarked.

Fado nodded, "Yes, yes, well... I wouldn't leave... I'm surprised I left the house, really." Then, remembering why he had come, he offered the bundle of papers to Link who simply looked at them quizically.

"Letters from the others, wishing you good luck and all that. They didn't feel like going out today."

Link took the bundle and dicovered that random quotes and scribblings had been scrawled all over them:

_Good luck, Link! Never forget to smile! - Hali_

_You're crazy, but it's what you hafta do. Stay safe! - Lorn_

_Don't forget your smarts! - Caffa_

_We've had ups and downs, but I hope you come back to us for more ups. - Sofert_

Link smiled. He never knew Sofert could write, and so well.

Fado smiled meekly. "Something to keep you bright in the spirits while you go... do what you have to."

Link nodded, and thanked him. Fado said 'no problem.'

Link asked where Saria was.

"Oh, uh, that I don't know," he said. "She left the house this morning and... hasn't come back."

Link's face drained of blood as worry blanketed the excitement for adventure in his heart. Then Navi intervened.

"She is still in the village," she said; "I saw her."

Link's heart relaxed.

"Well, if you see her again, tell her to come home quick. I worry about her now-a-days. She goes out a lot."

Link asked if he knew what his sister did. Fado said no.

Link took the papers and rolled them up into the rucksack, tightening the nooses before picking it up, running his arm through the armlaces and resting it upon his bag, readjusting his hood after his ruck misplaced it and adjusting for the sword now laced across his back.

Fado looked at him, his eyes in wonder but his face in tired sadness. "Wow, Link... you seem like one of those traveling heroes the Great One would tell us of in his stories... you're... going on a quest."

Link told him that he would come back. He promised.

Fado nodded. "We'll be waiting for you, boy. And we'll miss you."

Link and Fado embraced each other in a warm hug. Then, Fado and Link both descended down the ladder and proceeded down the path towards Fado's house. As they passed by the treehouses, Link noticed the eyes of the Kokiri upon him, peeking out of their windows as he moved on by. Some waved at him, and yelled 'good luck!' at him, even.

Arriving at Fado's, they said their last good-bye before Link and Navi headed off to the western part of the village.

They arrived at the edge of the village where a wall of trees separated the tranquil word of Kokiri Village and the wild, mysterious depths of the Lost Woods.

In front of this wall, standing between Link and his destiny, glumly stood Mido.

"Hi," he said, meekly.

Link greeted him back.

Then silence. Both said nothing. Mido seemed to have a lot on his mind but was unsure as to how to speak it.

"I..." he said, scratching the back of his head impulsively. "I... thank you, for saving my life, Link. We... had rough times together... and, uh... I don't want you to... hate me... forever."

Link felt gratitude and a weight lifted off of him. Link said he did not hate him. Just hated what he did.

Mido shrugged. "Yeah... um... sorry about all that... I'm... I just don't like it when people don't play with me... people don't like me..."

Link felt he was lying a bit, but he told him that that was not true.

It comfoted Mido, however. He smiled gratefully. "Be careful, Link."

Link nodded, and then Mido stepped away and walked back home.

Navi looked on in awe. "That kid's got a lot of issues to sort out before things get bad in the forest. A lot of growing up to do."

Link's eyes were narrowed on the forest. He was about to venture into the wild wood, where trees were now unleashed from the Great Deku Tree's command, where skull children were probably frolicking freely, where dark spirits were probably dwelling.

He had to set aside those thoughts, Link realized, otherwise he would never step in.

Sure enough, he found himself well deep into the forest by then, stepping over legs, jumping over gaps between streams and runs, moving around large trees. The canopy overhead was incredibly thick, almost blotting out the entire sunlight. Only enough got through to illumine the way, but even then Navi still assisted him.

Link felt free. He was on his own. No one yanked at him. No one said he could not be this far into the wild. In fact, he was encouraged to do so.

It was a truly liberating feeling.

* * *

After a while, he came to a woodline beyond which was a clearing. Coming to it, the clearing became a mere gap seperating the forest in two. Looking down, calm river flowed from the right to the left of him.

The river was ten feet below him, and the distance between the two embankments was more than that. Yet, both were connected by a bridge made of rope and wooden planks.

Against the rail rested a small girl named Saria, looking down into the river, lulled by its extravagance.

Link stepped onto the bridge, causing it to shake ever so slightly. Saria's head turned to look at him, and weakly she smiled.

"So... you've come," she said. She was expecting him.

Link did not expect to see her. She noticed that she was holding something in her hands. Upon a closer approach, he recognized it to be her ocarina; her little orange, clay flute.

Link asked her why she was here.

"I wanted to say goodbye... and I felt this was the right place to do it," she said. "I have a confession. I, like the Great Deku Tree, knew you would be leaving someday. I just never knew it would have been so soon. Had I, I probably would have prepared for it. But... now I have to be hasty. Here," and she extended her arm out, with the ocarina in her hand. She was offering it to him.

Link said that it was her only one. She said she could always make another one. "I want you to take it. It will remind you of where you came from, what you are struggling for. Think of me when you play it; it will keep me close to you in ways you can't imagine."

Link wanted to question her meaning, but felt she was simply being metaphorical (really he took her to be romantic with her words; he had never heard the word 'metaphorical'). He took the ocarina in his hands and put it in his pocket.

She smiled, looking at him in awe. "Wow... you... you look like..." and her words trailed off in her thoughts.

Link asked, like what?

"Like a boy going on his quest," she said.

A pause. At once both children embraced each other tightly, her arms wrapping around him tightly he could not breathe. He did not care. He did not want to breathe. He was going to miss her so much. He could feel her tears soak into his shoulder.

She broke the embrace and looked into his eyes. "If it gets too dangerous, run. Run as hard as you can, Link. Stay safe. Stay with those you trust. Trust good people. Come home as soon as you can." then she looked away. "Go."

Link's eyes welled up with tears, feeling the weight of burden upon him, that strange feeling he got whenever he thought about this new task; as if it was a duty, as if it was a step into some new phase in his life. Before he let the jumble of emotions and thoughts get to him, he bolted across the bridge and into the darkness of the woods, leaving Saria alone.

* * *

He ran for a long time. The tears he restrained now flowed easily from his eyes to the earth as he ran. He was no longer just a simple boy from a little village. He could not just play games anymore.

The only thought that kept him from stopping was the thought of getting away from himself. He wanted this all to have never happened, to have never been his responsibility. He never wanted the Great Deku Tree to be dead. He never wanted to know that he was never a part of the village. He never wanted to know that, all his life, people had been planning his future for him. He never wanted to have come to closure with Mido. He never wanted to remember the monsters he faced in the Deku Tree, which would now haunt his dreams forever. He never wanted to have felt the grip of the sword. He never wanted to have caused a ruckus in the slingshot games.

At that moment, he never wanted to have been born.

The sound of leaves brushing against him as he darted through the woods like the window came to his ears. The collection of dirt, mud and plant parts upon his boots accumulated with each step. The cries of nature soared in the air. The beating of his heart pounded in every bit of his body. His eyes drifted from seeing his way through the wild forest, shaded by his tears, to the darkness of his eyelids.

He suddenly heard movement in the wilderness around him as he ran. Something else also darted through the woods, from cover to cover, on ground and in the treetops. Something... no, somethings were following him. Tracking him. Planning things to do to him.

But that wasn't what stopped him from running.

Suddenly, a dark figure jumped in his path and shot something at him. It missed, and he tackled into the dark figure and kept on running. That wasn't what stopped him from running.

What stopped him from running was the trees.

Rather, the _lack_ of trees.

After the longets while, the environment around him changed drastically. His no longer ran through mud, piles of leaves and dirt or streams. His arms did not reach out to touch and move him around tree trunks or descending tree branches. Strange woodland creatures did not tail him. The air was not closed.

He found himself running through tall grass.

His arms reached out into open air, sporadically touching the tips of the tall grass.

The air was fightningly clear and open.

The sun beat down heavily on his brow as only possible in the village.

Did he make a total fool of himself and run around in circles?

Then he opened his eyes and wiped them. He marveled at where he was.

He stood in an open glade where tall grass grew. Trees numbered few and little around him, and grew to small and thin sizes. He had never seen an enclosure like this before.

Ahead of him, yards ahead, was a treeline.

He was out of breath, and he it took him a moment to know it. He collected air deeply into his lungs as he moved towards the treeline, eager to see what lay beyond them.

The World opened up to him. He was now outside of the forest.

In front of him, the earth spread out and wide before him, smooth green grass covering it all. All above him was a clear blue sky with clouds drifting endlessly towards the rest of the world. The landscape was flat and treeless, covered instead in small bushes and the like. Hills rose to and fro, here and there. The ground before him sloped downwards until coming to a stop and proceeding flatly onwards. From there, all that was left to him was open land.

He had done it. He had left the village. Left the woods.

He was free!

"Well," Navi said. Her voice gave no hint or indication of her thoughts to the vista. As if it did not impres her. "...we're here." She said that merely to break the silence.

Link asked where he was supposed to go.

Navi hovered forward, extending an arm that surpassed her magical barrier. "That ways. North."

Link asked if that was all there was to the quest; to go North?

"Yes," she said. "North. "

Link asked if there were monsters between here and there; more villages, more... people.

"Oh... yes," she said, realizing something. "There are certain beasts in the wild."

Link blinked. He asked what kind.

"If we find a road, we need to stick to it," she said. "Walfos roam the wildlands on occasion."

Link asked what Walfos were.

Navi shook her head. "Let's get moving. I'll tell you along the way."

Link asked where they were going.

"North, dummy!" she exasperated.

Link said he knew _that_; he just meant 'how.'

"...by... walking... you _were_ doing that moments ago, and you need to kick yourself into motion, boy," she groaned in a monotone.


	7. Kaepora Gaebora

****

Chapter 5

Kaepora Gaebora

After having lived his life surrounded by a wall of trees, a wall of protection, Link found himself distraught by a strange sense of nausea. Having lived in the village since time immemorial to him, he could always see that formidable wall of trees that spelled doom for any Kokiri to walk through, which, despite such a morbid idea, came as a comforting thought. After all, this suggested that neither nothing nor nobody left or trespassed into this place. It was a closed off community; a hidden paradise for them solely to enjoy.

But to suddenly change that environment, from a fantastical enclosure to a grand open wilderness (the wide world as it were) Link felt dizzy and sat down-well, fell down onto his butt-perplexedly to collect himself, which happened to be Navi's amusement as she politely wondered if he let the idea of 'cold feet' get to his head.

Sitting at the borders between his old world and the wilderness, the blond boy studied the elements around him. As of now, he sat on a moderate decline that sloped downwards for only three yards before continuing on as flat grassland, whereas upon the summit rested the woodline of his mystical woodland home. Casting a studious gaze over his shoulder, the young boy felt the pangs of homesickness already as he imagined himself lying in his feather bed, all the way back in his treehouse back at the village.

He shook such thoughts away and directed his attention back to the open land, which stretched for a few miles before coming across forestation. Not as thick as the Lost Woods, the dappled locations of trees and oaks gave some sort of comfort to the young adventurer, as if some spirit from the lost woods was extending its reach to guide him towards the open world. From where he sat, the forestation spanned not too long, but onwards from that was too far from Link's perspective.

Along his left and his right the borders of the Lost Woods extended even further, following the ups and downs of the landscape as they spanned onwards. The area to his left beheld nothing but open land, whereas his right turned out to be more interesting. Clouded by distance and atmosphere, hundreds of leagues away stood objects coming from the earth, their apexes colored by frosty snow, tall into the skies above and piercing their airy surfaces. Sometimes, these objects spawned out of each other while some stood alone. But these were not flexibly moving things, not like creatures; no, they were solid and still like rock.

Navi explained that they were 'mountains' and described them thus: "The earth itself is alive and moving. In our time, it moves impossibly slow, but in the eyes of fairies and elves mountains grow at a moderate rate. These gargantuans are larger than they appear because they are so far away-" and so carried on despite the young boy losing interest. Hearing the word 'mountain' was enough; he knew what they were, just not what they looked like. He heard of such things in the Great Deku Tree's tales. Link frowned upon this memory and looked away to the sky.

It struck him surprisingly as he lay lay flat on his back to gaze at the celestial ceiling. Above him stood a blue roof that had neither an end nor a beginning to it, spanning for millions of miles in all directions- and blue, of all things. Blue. Link always thought the sky was green, for that's all he saw in the Village when he looked up: a green haze. It must have been an effect made by the forest. The forest _was_ magical, after all.

Looking down at the forestation below once more, Link stood and began walking down the slope, determined to get this quest on the move. If all quests began with simple steps, then Link felt no fear of such an endeavor; after all, his boot size was a four. Navi felt uncertain, however, that the boy was driven by the right kind of passion that could be enough until she remembered her inspirational speech that made him leave the village in the first place. Biting her tongue, the blue fairy chose to depend on her own faith that the boy would come through through willpower. He _was_ different than the rest, he _may_ be the exception after all.

She thought about this as she followed Link into the little forest at the foot of the decline, not even remotely noticing the the large, winged, shadowy figure watching them from the treetops of the Lost Woods.

* * *

This little 'dabble of trees' (as Navi described it aloud to herself) did not conceal the sun, but it provided enough cover to buffer its heat. Link now understood why heroes in the Deku Tree's tales hated working in the summer. Just resting on that little hill beforehand was challenging; he had never been exposed in the sun like that before. He was surprised to find his clothes already damp with his sweat as he stood under the shadow of an oak.

Navi herself was shocked. "It's the forest," she said; "back at the Village. The trees take in the sunlight, and we end up being protected from the sun. No wonder the sky looked so different back at the village."

Link took out his canteen and took a gulp of water out of it. Navi at once beat him on the head: "Don't gulp it! We need to ration it. We have no idea when the next river or stream will be."

Link nodded in agreement, and then realized that sweet sound to counter Navi's beratement: running water. His ears twitched at it, his heart jumped at it. He followed the sound as acutely as his elfen ears could, meandering around the trees until he found it, and triumphantly took a whole gulp of water from his canteen. A stream of running water extended from somewhere ahead of him (the direction northwards, as Navi pointed out) and moving onwards south. Link took his hood off and drenched it in the stream and slammed his face with it, letting the water mix with his sweat and cooling off his hot head.

They stayed at the stream for ten more minutes, allowing Link to have a good couple rounds of drinking water and fully hydrate, before Navi motioned for moving on. Topping off his current canteen and his empty one with water, he clipped them back in on his utility belt, picked up his travel kit and moved onwards in the small forest.

He gazed at these trees, remarking on their kind. They were different to Deku, which had a radical consistency itself in comparison. Deku bark was rough and hard (unless dead), and it sap was almost impossible to become unstuck to. In the Deku, one could feel the spirit within it, for the tree itself was a living being. It thought, it could communicate (not through words but gestures and sounds), and it had intentions of its own. Malicious they were, but intentions nevertheless. Its leaves were extensions of its body, primarily as digital extenders or sensory organs.

These trees did exist in the forest, but not as popularly as the Deku. These trees were without thought or intelligence, and albeit the bark was rough to the touch it was also dispensible upon rough handling; easily breakable. They had no other need to exist except to exist: they were merely functions of nature.

Navi told to Link about these 'outside' trees. He, meanwhilst, was merely enamoured by the visual difference and the sheer beauty of theiralienage.

The sounds of the open world still plagued Link, for he had never been used to it. The sound of the wind coming, as if from far, far away, and brushing by him, carrying the sent and stories of lands far away, kept his mind aflutter. The twitter of birds calling to one another in the morning, chirping, singing, and heralding that the day was glorious in the eye of the Sun.

* * *

They walked through this small forest for the better part of an hour when fewer trees numbered and less of them collected in groups. Ahead of these was the woodline, beyond which lay the rest of the land.

Link's mind raced with the images he concocted back when he heard stories, with the Great Deku Tree's descriptions tagged with them. He wondered if his dreams could match the reality.

"Hold," Navi said. The boy halted confusedly, looking at the floating orb with a questioning look.

"Hold it," she said again, sounding scared. "Do not move."

Link obeyed, saying nothing, but asked, with his eyes, why.

"Do it ever so slowly... reach for your sword... and look up... there's a giant _thing_ glaring down at us right now..."

Listening to the words and doing as told, and suddenly feeling afraid at once, he took his time looking up. Whatever it was, Link imagined it to be something horrible-like Gohma: monstrous, one-eyed, hungry for flesh and malicious.

Treetops. Plain treetops.

Nothing to be scared of, Link's first thought was, until he focused his eyes more. Then, he noticed it: a huge, dark shadow, silhouetted against the light of day above the trees. It was oval shaped, at whose apex sat a a round head.

As soon as Link comprehended that, indeed, something was sitting amongst those branches, it vanished. It must have noticed Link's hand fumbling for the sword and fled for safety.

"It's not gone," she muttered without moving her lips. "It can't be."

Link's eyes darted from treetop to treetop. He heard a branch move and his focus raced to the limb in question: nothing. Then he heard what sounded like wings flapping above him, but the sun glared in his eyes.

And then, he heard: _hoot hoot_.

"An owl?" Navi gasped, dropping any manner of horrific paralysis for incredulity.

Link asked to confirm if she meant the wood bird.

"The kind that lingers in the night, sleeps in trees and spins its head, yes," she said. Then her wings lilted. "Oooo... so big... what if it likes to eat fairies?"

A loud WHOOSH from flapping wings sang through the air and the fairy darted underneath Link's hood frightfully. He could feel her warm and tingly body shivering on his scalp; it was quite unnerving, really.

The flapping of wings repeated itself, and a treetop shook from being knocked into, making the boy only tense his face in excited reaction.

At once, a giant body crashed through the treetops, pushing them to the side, and bounded towards the boy with a determined speed. The young adventurer barely had time to react when it breached the surface and came full throttle in his direction like a speeding demon.

Stricken with panic, his hand fumbled for the sword hilt as his mind raced with anticipation. He expected it to ram itself into him, take him to the ground and finish the job in its own monstrous ways. And then take Navi afterwards. But it was coming so fast!

Then, it stopped. The giant mass slowed down its speed, hovered in the air a bit and then perched itself onto a branch just feet above the young boy and his concealed fairy. As it nestled on the branch, holding onto it and keeping its large, auburn body balanced with grace, it tucked in its wings along the sides of its body and then stayed absolutely quiet.

It really was a giant bird. Link, as deku scrubs tended to describe him, stood about four feet ten (taller than any Kokiri). If the young boy knew his measurements well, he calculated the owl's to be roughly five foot five. Except for its eyebrows which extended out and increased its headspan a foot.

As tall as it was, its massive chest surpassed Link's entire body width with a robust and masculine tuft of brown and ecru feathers. Its legs were small but strong, the ends of which were grand talons that gripped the tree branch like a vice. Atop its shoulders, the head was... well, at first it was hard to tell where it even began. Initially Link thought its head was upside down, and then realized that, instead, it boasted a tuft of feathers on its face, like a beard, with dots and lines that made it look like another face. Its real face, right side up, was far more realistic and even more intriguing. A small but ornery, fulvous beak and two long feathers that made up its eyebrows (an exaggeration to be honest) construed a basic avian face, but its eyes told a much different story. Instead of them holding the eyes of a natural bird, it seemed to Link that he was gazing into the eyes of another human being such as himself: they were blue and piercing.

The bird then inclined its head while peering down at the boy's boots, and then climbed up the body in examination. In all this time, the bird inspected the boy with a quirky, almost twitchy, nature of manner.

He felt Navi's small, minute hands tap his scalp and her voice whisper: "Is it gone?"

Link slightly shook his head, and in response Navi said: "Then get rid of it!" under her breath.

The bird-sorry, the 'owl-somehow heard it. It moved on its branch to perch even closer than it was before, curiously.

It just stared at him. It did not look like it was preparing to pounce on him. It did not seem hungry or predatory. Instead, it looked as if it were simply observing the boy, studying him curiously. Something else, however, lay in its auburn eyes that Link at first could not describe. Seconds turned to minutes, and Link even wondered if the thing was waiting for _him_ to do something.

Feeling as if it were a last ditch effort before doing the last resort of all actions (kill the bird with the sword), Link spoke out to the beast by asking what it wanted.

"_Hoot hoot, _you are far from home, Kokiri-boy!" it said jovially.

Link stared dumbfoundedly at the creature. Navi sat still, but he was sure that the fairy was just as confused.

Agape and seeking words, the boy then stuttered a response, inquiring what the bird was.

The bird let out a couple of lofty hoots and then said, "I am called by many names in this world, but you will call me Kaepora Gaebora."

Link nodded, warily, his hand still on his sword hilt.

"Please don't, boy," said the giant owl; "if I had wanted you for meals, I'd have done it when you left the Lost Woods. That's not my purpose. I'm here to help you, _hoo_."

Navi tapped on Link's head and fed him something to say: "Why?"

The great bird opened its beak to speak, but paused. Then it suddenly darted its head into its wing and bit ferociously. It itched, apparently.

Navi asked why the beast took so long to respond. Link told her about its itch. Navi simply whispered "Oh."

The owl finished itching itself, sighing in relief upon completion. "I am here on orders of a friend. You knew him as the Great Deku Tree."

Link's sword-hand. This was a friend, then!

"Yes, he and I have been friends long before Hyrule was established as a nation. Or, had been, that is..." he looked away frowning. "Yes, I know that he is gone. It still pains me to realize that. He was the best of us, and yet... well..." he looked at Link, proudly. He seemed to have the rest of the words, but he did not say them.

"Anyway, _hoo_, I am here to help you."

Navi muttered, "Link, repeat after me: how can we trust you?"

Link did as told.

"Navi, please do not play gossipping owls with me, little fairy," the Great Owl growled; "Come out!"

Navi sluggishly crawled out from under Link's hood and jumped into the air. The owl stretched the corners of his face into a smile.

"It is strange, in all the times I had been at the Great Deku Tree's side, that he neither mentioned you nor introduced us. For all we know, you could have been an enemy of his, and are now trying to lead us astray and then do what you like!" the fairy said.

"Hmmmmm," cooed the Owl. "Well, then I'm as good as history to you both!" and began to flap his wings to fly away.

Link, however, pressed upon him to stay, at which Navi slapped him on the ear. The Owl, however, complied.

"It seems the young boy trusts me," said Kaepora, and then he reached underneath his wing and pulled out what seemed to be a small, tied-up burlap sack, which he then tossed to the ground in front of Link. The bag landed with a thud, the contents of which seemed to bounce within. Upon opening it, Link discovered two dead rabbits.

"You will need the energy," said Kaepora.

Link gulped nervously. He asked if he had to _eat_ them.

The Owl's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh. Right. First timer... well... Well, just skin it, roast it and it's good eating."

"Huh!" said the Fairy. "A bribe, then?"

"No, take it or leave it," said the Owl; "but this..." he reached into his wing again with his beak and pulled out a bundle of paper, which he too tossed in front of Link. This time the boy caught it in his hands and examined it. It was a simple roll of paper bound by a red lace.

"That, is a letter," said Kaepora; "of significant import."

"What're we two outcasters s'posed to do with _this_? Start a subscription?" mused the Fairy.

"Let me tell you..." the Owl soothing spoke.

Navi and Link waited to hear the word.

"Head straight north from these woods and within two days you should come upon a road. That is called Mako Road, and it's one of the main traffic channels for this region. If you find them, ask people the way to 'Fairyn;' it's a town along the road, and there you need to find a man named Flaba. He's a blacksmith. Give him that letter, and then wait for me."

"Wait," said Navi; "you're not coming with us?"

The Owl straightened its back to look dignified. "I am not a simple owl. I have more duties than my talons can grasp for, and I cannot disregard them. Fear not, you two; when you need a hint on where to go, I'll be there at the best point in time."

"Hmmm..." the fairy still seemed wary of him. "So... we hit the road, and ask around for Fairyn Town?"

"_Hoo_."

"And ask for Flapper?"

"_Hatoo, hatoo!_ His name is _Flaba_. Get it right! You can't give this letter to the wrong person!"

Navi mumbled her words of acknowledgement in spite.

Link asked if the Owl could repeat how long it would take to find the road.

"It should take two. However, you have never been outside the forest, and this new world is still bewildering you. It may take you longer, and not just because you are just a child."

Link felt indignant to such words.

"There should be very little disturbance on your journey, aside from food and water shortages, as well as exhaustion, so do take rests as much as you can without wasting resources. AND MARK ME!" Kaepora expanded his wings slightly and his eyes widened in emphasis. "There are _beasts_ in the wild. Wolves in particular, and these Hylian breed are quite ferocious; demonic, even. It is strange, though..." the Owl looked away. "They have been roving more often, as of late... STILL!" the Owl glared into Link. "DO... NOT... ENGAGE. Run if you must! You are not trained or proficient enough to slay wild beasts. Look at you, you're not brave enough to look into that sack again."

Indeed, Link felt repulsed by such an idea of eating meat.

"But, if you want to survive, you must be a warrior. And these rabbits will replenish you like no other."

"He _is_ right, Link," said Navi. "You're gonna have to eat them. Our food is just not going to cut it."

"Thank you, Navi," the Owl said, gratefully; "and I expect you to navigate it as much as you can. As you go along, teach him everything you know about the world. As much as you can."

The fairy hesitated a moment, and then lightly nodded. "Okay."

Kaepora switched faces again curiously. "Do you want me to repeat my mission for you, _hoo_?"

Both of them said yes, and the owl repeated the same thing. Go north, find the road and then find Fairyn Town. Find Flappa- sorry, Flaba -and give him the letter. Once that is done, wait for Kaepora. Got it.

"Do you need me to repeat?" Kaepora asked. Neither of the two asked him to, although Link was trying to hard to think of something. It was during the second walkthrough that he knew what he wanted to ask, but by the time the owl finished its corollary the young lad had forgotten his question completely. It was bugging him, but he made motions that he did not want the owl to speak more.

"Good! _Hoo!_" Kaepora hooted. "Then that is all I have for now! Follow my instructions and my words of caution, and our journey shall be smoothly done!" it extended its massive wings, once again creating the appearance of a massive giant, and forcibly began flapping for take-off. After two great whips of its wings, it was airborne and hovering over the branch on which it previously stood.

"SO!" yelled Navi, trying to sound audible over the sound effects; "HOW DO WE KNOW WHICH WAY IS NORTH?"

"_HOOT HOOT! _KEEP THE ASH MOUNTAINS TO YOUR RIGHT SHOULDER!" it hooted loudly, and then swarmed through the air like a giant brown shadow, broke through the canopy of the trees and then vanished into the sun, leaving Navi and Link alone in the wildnerness.

Suddenly, Link remembered what he meant to ask: "WHO IS PRINCESS ZELDA?"

But it was too late. The owl had flown long before he finally asked himself that question.

"So," said Navi. "Let's find this road."


	8. A Familiar Howl

To my subscribers and readers,

I apologize for my belatedness in publishing this next chapter; I've had some really cool things happening for me offline, and I've been being a good boy at going after such wonderful opportunities. BUT! I have not forgotten you and I have not forgotten _this_ story, either. Personally, you will find this chapter very interesting.

Therefore! Read!

-_**Tenial, your author**_

* * *

_**Chapter 6**_

_**A Familiar Howl**_

Shortly after their acquaintance with the speaking owl, Link and Navi promptly continued their voyage into the land of Hyrule. They left the tiny patch of forest and headed into open field with anticipation for a tremendous adventure. At this juncture, however, their expectations were shortly affected by Soler, the Sun, as her beaming eye hazed the two with an undying passion, making it feel as though she burned them as they walked. Link was surprised at how wet he got under the armpits and between his legs from how much he sweat.

Navi kept herself protected from the sun's beams fairly well- under Link's hood, that is, though eventually she came out when she exclaimed that he sweat profusely like a pig and stated indignantly that his hair was like a million slimy tentacles sticking to her body. Aside from feeling offended, Link mostly felt just as irritated: her sweaty, heat-conducting body made the heat worse for him. Link constantly scanned the horizon and the landscape for any means of shelter: a tree, a boulder (there were some rock formations scattered epidemically across the field), that huge owl, a house- anything to create a shadow. Small hills and hillocks swooned high and low all over without as much a small shrub while their small saddles and slips were garnished with nothing but shrubbery (nee).

Link and Navi walked that open field for the longest time while Soler herself slowly traversed the blue sky. Navi said, "It may not look it, but She is moving faster than either of us right now." Link swore he would ask a wise man if that were true just so he could put Navi in her place; he was not particularly comfoted by her right now.

During their trek that first day, Navi announced that it was 'afternoon' and suggested that they take a rest, to which Link retorted "but the sun still hurts!" Navi smacked him on the head and pointed to a boulder the boy did not notice roughly ten yards to his left. Approaching it, it stood as high as his ribcage and wide enough to create a shadow to hide under. Link shrugged and said "Good eye." As he slid off his rucksack, and as it fell onto the grass with a thud, Link's body jerked straight up from the sudden loss of heavy carriage off his back. Link could suddenly stand straighter than a tree. He hardly realized how heavy his ruck was until it was finally off, since his body got used to it over so many steps ("Miles, even" Navi told him). Then the two relaxed under the shadow of the boulder, munching on an apple taken out of a pocket in the rucksack.

Link's eyes directed towards the sky as he studied the cloud formations. Horse tails and giant puffy tufts sailed through the skies in multiple random shapes which his mind could not recognize. Navi's body shifting rustled the grass right next to him a few times. Every now and then the clouds would pass under the sun and buffer the sun's rays momentarily much to Link and Navi's relief before moving away and cascading the heat rays onto the land. As always, Link's mind drifted to questions not even Navi had answers for.

His mind drifted to childish fantasies, imagining people actually living amongst those billowy clouds. It may have been juvenile, but Link believed in his heart that people lived in the skyward realm.

He asked aloud if people did. Navi rolled over and told him to stop talking for a while.

After a while Navi jumped into the air and said that they needed to continue. Grumpy from not having a direct reply and from having to put that lousy ruck on his back, Link got to his feet and they both continued their seemingly endless waltz though the grassland.

The day seemed to go on forever. Climbing a hill was not the challenge; it was looking down it that caused dismay in Link's heart, for no hill was high enough to show the far horizon: nothing but grassland. The day was truly uneventful.

Soler's passage into the leftwards sky came to a conclusion as she brought the evening with her, endowing the world in a dreary light of twilight. Link himself could not wait for the next day to begin.

Navi told him to pitch a tent. Link's feeling of relief came again as he dropped the rucksack shortly before he dumped its contents onto the ground with many a-_clatt_ering and a-_bang_ing. The boy found himself surprised to see how much equipment Navi had him pack last night: extra clothes, socks, a hammer and bag of stakes, a couple of canteens full of water, a bag of bandages and ointments (which Navi concocted herself), some extra bags of food, a kit to start a fire, a utensil knife with spoon and fork attachments, a small wooden shovel, a rag, a canister full of some white powder Navi said was for his feet, and finally a folded thick hide with a bundle of guy ropes and two long wooden rods.

Navi ordered him to pitch a tent. Hesitant at first, Link then began ramming stakes into the holes perforating the brims, now adhering the tent flat onto the grass. Navi sighed irritably and asked if he ever pitched a tent before. He said once but that was like forever. Navi had him restart, guiding him like a parent guides a baby to its first steps to pitch this small tent. Taking one of the hip-sized boulders

After some trials, Link finally pitched one. It was small and very makeshift, and it leaned to the side slightly thanks to Link's 'good coordination.' Navi told him that the tent was of a particular kind, one of many in fact. When asked how many, Navi said "Dozens. The one I had you make is a dining fly." Link's face squinted into curiosity and he asked why it was called a 'fly.' Navi smacked him on the shoulder and said "Because it'll fly off if you don't stake it to the ground."

"Now," she continued. "I had to ask this eventually, but... do you know how to hunt?"

Link's eyes blinked oddly, and then he asked why.

Navi glared at him. "Tell me you're joking."

Link asked if she meant from an animal, like the rabbits in the sack lying just feet away.

"Yes, exactly," she said. "You're going to have to! Out here, nature is unforgiving, and we can't live off of fruits, vegetables and a piece of cake. A boy like you... well, heh heh, a 'young warrior' especially... you need energy. Animal meat has enough and more to keep you strong."

Link asked if that was sinful to the Gods.

Navi sighed, "The Gods will understand when you make the decision of who lives in the wild: you or the animal."

Link's heart ached at the thought of having to kill an innocent animal; he did not know if he could. So he said he was not going to.

"...Hmph," Navi said, dismissing the matter altogether. "If you say so."

The two ate small portions of the bag of nuts and berries, and then finished off the apple. Link hinted at having a taste of the cake, but Navi would hear none of it. She was determined to salvage it over their trek until they reached a village or town. She said that they should reach some kind of settlement sometime next day. When asked what time exactly, she said "Exactly sometime in the day."

After their simple dinner, Link and Navi laid down in the cover of the tent. Link choose to stick his head out of one of the openings to gaze up at the night sky and gaze at its many wonders. Stars and constellations, ebbing and blinking in multitudes innumerable, stared back down at him from so many millions of miles away, each having a story of their own. A million eyes gazed down at him and only two could look back, and it all made the boy feel small and unimportant in their presence.

But he _was_ important. He had a job- a quest, he was on a quest. No one else could do it but him, so Navi had told him the night before. Still, being witness to the nocturnal heavens brought a feeling of foreboding and impotence in Link's heart.

Nighttime in the open field was peaceful, with the crickets serenading the night with their mating calls of _creekut, creekut _out in the open air below the dark sky_._

Soon his eyelids weighed down over his eyes and he slumbered, with Navi already asleep just inches away in the tent. No dreams drifted into his mind that night.

* * *

The boy with a fairy woke up to a suprise of a horrible chill eased by the sensation of a source of heat on his chest, only to find his fairy sleeping on him. Despite her warmth, the boy shivered as the chilly wind breezed by.

It was too early in the morning for the sun to break dawn and terribly cold. The starlight from the previous night was blanketed out by heavy cloud cover.

Today was going to be cold. Link knew it deep down in his bones.

He wanted to go back to sleep, but the chill bothered him incredibly. Navi's warmth was just enough to make the chill tolerable, but not enough to ease him to sleep. Finally he nudged the fairy awake with his finger. The fairy gained consciousness gradually.

"Mmmm..." she groaned, flapping her wings and stretching her arms. "You started shivering late last night. I figured it'd be nicer if I warmed you. Hmm... well, the sun should come up soon and it will get warm. Let's pack the tent and get a move on; maybe we can nab some miles before it gets too hot."

As he inspected his equipment, he noticed something was missing.

The bag with the dead rabbits. Gone.

"Oh my..." Navi muttered. "Some beast must have smelled them and taken them in the night."

Despite Navi's disappointment, Link felt relieved. He wouldn't have to eat animal meat.

Link's process of packing the equipment took long, halting whenever a yawn came out of him or he had a sudden second of sleep. It took him many efforts to stay awake and only want to go back to sleep. It only took one snap of petulance from Navi to jolt him into action and trek off with a packed ruck on his back.

* * *

The overcast sky served as a blessing to the two many hours later when the sun finally crested. Her rays of beaming hot light had no chance of penetrating their masses of misty particulates, which collected such energy with enthusiasm and allowed very little to pass that the air heated up enough to swathe the travellers comfortably. Soler's heat still persisted in the atmosphere, yet it's intensity was merely slighted.

This affect gave Link and Navi such optimism on their outlook of the morning, for they had already gone over several miles before the sun arrived, and now many more would be traversable under the clouds.

Link still sweat. Lugging a rock-heavy ruck on his back and walking rather expeditiously was very trying, but the promise of seeing a town kept him going further.

The landscape changed slightly as more and more natural elements appeared on their journey. Random trees dotted the landscape, thin in shape and their branches covered in needles, but underneath them, in their shade on the ground, were some strange oddities. Laying in the cover of these simple trees were large, bulbous flowers that stood out of the ground like pods, boasting extravagant and exotic colours of red, yellow and green, and large, round petals extending out of their crowns.

"Oh!" Navi exclaimed, amusedly. "Careful, Link. We're now in peahat territory."

Hmm? Link looked at his fairy quizzically and asked what peahats were.

"Well-"

Suddenly, a piercing pain seared in his right heel as if something skinned him and he let out a YELP as he began limping.

"GAH! What's wrong?" Navi asked, jolted by his yelp.

Link said he got a blister on his heel. His foot twitched in response to the pain with every step, each of which became steadier and slower than the previous.

"Oooo," Navi cooed. "You got a _bwister_. Alright, let's take care of it. Find a boulder to sit on- avoid the peahats," her eyes looked up to the sky to tell the time from the sun's position.

Link's eyes fell upon one a few feet away shy of one. As he sat down, he cast a wary eye on it, wondering what kind of things it could do to cause Navi to issue such a warning. He kept glancing at it as he untied his boot.

"But yeah, you want to avoid them," she said. "They'll attack you."

Link had his boot halfway off when she said that, but that stopped him entirely in shock.

"Annoying, but nothing horrible," she said with a chuckle.

Link slid the boot off with a wince. He asked where they came from.

"According to legend, they are spawned from the ghosts of dead flowers," she said. "Long ago, a wizard enchanted a crop of a special flower only grown in Hyrule. With his spell, they would sing for the glory of the world; their only purpose was to bring joy and happiness in the form of song. Well, that is what they did. Soon, word spread about these musical flowers, and people flocked to hear them. Joy indeed spread, and folk began to look at life more positively.

"But one day, someone set fire to them. No one knows who or why, but it was by their action that these musical flowers were ashen remains of a dream.

"The wizard's heart was broken, and he laid a curse on the remains of the flowers, which then produced seeds and were sown into the earth. When they blossomed, they grew large and round, sporting flappy petals and a hard exterior casing. The curse was simple: pester mankind. Now, everywhere they grow, whenever people disturb them, they... fly into people."

"...fly into people?"

"Yes. Their petals help them fly."

After Link applied the strange white powder into his sock and then tied his boot back onto his foot, they both carried on through this wilderness of needled trees and peahat territory. They seemed to grow in crops here.

Several times Link actually stepped into a few and their petals began rotating, but as soon as he got far away the plants stopped. Then one time he had bumped into a rather large one, about as big as his head, and it rotated its petals just enough to flutter out of its place. Link began marching as hard as he could away from it, but he could not outrace the speed of the creature, and as he turned around to see it the flower-thing came into him with a hard _smack_ in the face. The whole body of the peahat, aside from its top, was a hard and smooth surface, almost metallic. And it hurt. A lot. Blood trickled out from his nose as he turned around and ran away with Navi laughing incontrollably behind his head. The peahat then returned to its place.

As soon as they got clear of any more peahats ( in an arre with less of these pine-needle trees), Navi inspected Link's nose and announced that it was not broken.

Link said it still hurt.

"Man up, kid," she said. "At least it was a peahat that got ya."

Link's mind recalled Kaepora's words, and his heart sank a bit. He asked what kind of beasts wondered these lands.

"Hyrule boasts a fair amount of game," she said; "deer, rabbits, oxen, sheep, goats, the works. Hyrule is renown for its oxen, known as the Hylian Ox, which roam these territories; they can be deadly if you don't act well around them. Some herds of horses _do_ make it into Hyrule from Calania before they slip into Hylian territory and get caught. Little things like snakes or whatever? Nothing venomous. But the ones we need to worry about come at night. Wolves hunt in packs at that time."

Link asked how they were going to deal with wolves.

Navi paused. "We'll figure that out when we cross that bridge, shall we?"

Link gulped.

* * *

By the time they broke for camp, Link felt like dying. He had drunk the entirety of water from two canteens with one more in reserve, his right foot was covered in blisters from heel to toe plus a mixture of boot powder and ointment, and their food reserve was running out. Navi told him they should wake up the next morning to hunt for rabbits, which Link felt ambivalent about.

However, the fear of wolves loomed in his mind as he pitched the tent. He had never seen one before, but he had heard of them from the Great Deku Tree. These beasts lived off of other creatures, living or dead, and lived solely to hunt. Bulky fur, eyes that glowed yellow in the dark and fangs to tear flesh asunder. These creatures could stalk for days, relying on their stamina rather than their speed to hunt their prey.

_And_ they traveled in packs. This meant bad things to Link. It was a lost battle before he had even seen one!

"Listen," said Navi. "I'll stay up for the first half of the night. I'll wake you up when it's your time; this way, someone is always watching out for one of us. Can you do that?"

At first, Link did not like the idea of losing sleep, but he figured it was better than dying. He agreed and went to sleep.

* * *

Navi woke him up deep in the night. She told him she heard some wails but not to worry about them. She went to sleep shortly after he sat himself up outside the tent.

All around him was an empty world of darkness. The sun's illumination in the clouds had long gone, leaving the sky lightless and utterly blank. It was just him and a fairy in the middle of an open field in the night, and he could barely see two feet in front of him.

All he heard was the emptiness. No wailing at all. Maybe he did not have to worry about it.

But he still did. He wished he was back in the safety of his home, in his treehouse high off the ground. Wolves could not climb (as far as he knew), and peahats would have to be smart enough to fly through the windows to pester him. The only thing that could annoy him was Mido.

Oh, how he missed Kokiri Village. He missed Saria. He missed the Great Deku Tree. For what it was worth, he missed everyone, even the mean kids. He wondered if they missed him in return, and then he recalled the letters. He felt like looking at them, but that meant he had to go into his rucksack and dig for them. He told himself he would have to find a new place for them so that he could easily access them.

His other hand reached into his pocket to touch the smooth, cold surface of the emblem. Ever since the forest, he had sporadically fingered the strange artifact to make sure it was still there. It would be a waste to journey all the way to another world and _not_ have the right object to do it with.

Then he thought about it: what _was_ this emblem? Why was it so important? Was it a gift? Was it something a loved one gave to the Deku Tree? Was Zelda a friend? Did this belong to her?

He wished someone could give him answers, and clenched it hard at that thought.

_"You couldn't fake living, you fool,"_ a voice suddenly spoke.

His head jerked, and then panic erupted his body to move out from the cover of the tent, sword in one had and the emblem in the other, to search for the voice. But tt could not have come from anywhere, for it did then it meant someone in the darkness was watching him. But where was he, or she, or it?

He paused, waiting, listening for anything else, but only the emptiness of the world responded. Where did that voice come from?

_"Do you ever wonder what happens at twilight...?"_

**_HAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_** The sound of something haunting and terrifying, sounding as if mingled with the feeling of a lost love and the excitement of fresh meat, soared in the air with a wailing howl. It sounded very close.

Tales from the Great Deku Tree crawled into his mind, fortelling the cry of the wolf as an omen. He remembered hearing about them, especially from superstitious Kokiri who thought they could hear the wolves of the forest.

This particular howl belonged to a hungry beast _very close_.

_"What was that?" _gasped the voice again.

"LINK!" gasped Navi, fluttering into the air. "Wolves!"

Link's hands tightened on both sword and emerald as his eyes darted to and fro to find anything in the dark. Nothing. Then Navi fluttered over his shoulder, her breathing incessant in his ear, and she intensified her aura and then extended it out like a narrow beam. Wherever it touched, the beamlight could expose the very target as it would be in daylight, but here all that could be seen was grass and dirt.

Then he heard the sounds of swishing and swashing as many somethings began stampeding over the grassland all around them. They were surrounded. Soon Navi began fidgeting and shivering, and her beamlight soon fluttered over images of things running back and forth across the grass.

Even without the light both of the travellers could now see them, for a multitude of pale, yellow eyes beamed back at them- hungrilly.

"Wolves..." muttered Navi.

_"I'm hearing things, Danell, I swear it!" _the voice said defensively.

Link asked Navi if she could hear that voice.

"What voice? Do you know what's going on here?" she yelled.

Their stench of their breath was rancid in the air, a stench of which Link almost equated to Gohma's pulsating odor. Every now and then they came in front of Navi's light, and he could see them: bulky furred, four legged monsters with yellow eyes and sharp fangs- and tails. They were large, too, bigger than Link, and long, tendrils of saliva dripped from their rows of fangs.

Link asked what they should do.

"...you have to run. They're stalking closer."

Indeed, the canines were now en masse closer, and Navi's light did not seem to dissuade them. It only drew them closer.

Link asked what they were going to do about the equipment.

"May Leaf poison the equipment, Link! Your life is in danger!" she gasped.

At that, a wolf angrilly barked, its mouth foaming with salivation.

Link's heart beat rapidly against his chest and his mind raced, but his body would not move. Fear gripped him, and his only comfort was holding onto both sword and emerald. Especially the emerald.

Link said he would take them on.

"GET GONE!" Navi gasped. "YOU ARE NO MATCH!"

The wolves were now impatient. They were going to make the pounce inevitable now.

Link wanted to fight. He wanted to fly away. He wanted out of this situation.

He needed help, but he felt he had to fight!

The grip on his emerald tightened so much that its edges dug into his skin. He wished someone could help him out!

At once, he felt groggy. His eyes began to feel lazy and his head seemed to think unclearly. For a moment he forgot where he was, and when he remembered it frightened him. The world around him was unstable, loopy, and a bit disorganized, as if it was all a dream. Link hoped he was not falling asleep, but the feeling of adrenaline and fear still ran through his veins.

Suddenly, another howl soared through the air but from behind the pack of wolves. **_HAROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_** This howl was stranger than the first, as if it was declaring itself as a formidable foe rather than a bloodthirsty roar.

It was a challenging howl and for some reason Link could remember it. It touched a fiber in his mind that estranged yet comforted him, telling him that he was safe.

The eyes of the wolves vanished as they turned around, and only their posteriors were visible in front of Navi's light. Whatever howled at them got their attention as none of them gave any more regard to Link and Navi, for they now had to contend over their meal with something bigger.

Navi and Link stood in wonder. Navi herself was bewildered. "I hope it's not the alpha wolf," she said.

Then with a yell, the wolves all darted for the new arrival. Yet, instead of a lynching, it became a strife, a loud and frightning cacophony of ravenous growls, pained yelps and horrendous howls which echoed in the night air. Link and Navi cowered back, frightened witless by the battle, and yet they watched on. Navi's light could only show the wolves crowding around their target but could not make any distinct imagery of the entire battle possible. Within the struggle however Link kept seeing soft colors wither like a faint light; dark blue and dark red colors around a small body of a person. Or a thing.

"Take that!" spoke a strange voice amidst the quarrel; it sounded like two voices speaking at once, one clear and childlike and the other gnarled and twisted, but both together permeating excitement in unison.

Navi asked if that was the voice Link heard. He said no.

Then a chorus of yelps and whines permeated the air as the wolves suddenly ran off, their feet running them as fast as they could away from this scene. Whatever was left was just Link, Navi, and something else. In the dark the colors were more visible; they seemed to illumine a figure, but were so strange that Link could not figure out what they were.

"Hey, you see those two, too?" asked that duel-voice in the dark. The light adjusted a bit, and Link wondered if it was raising a finger at him and his fairy.

Whatever it was, it began to approach them, and as it did the colors vanished. Link gripped his sword tightly, raising it defensively. Navi fluttered closer to Link's shoulder while she focused her light on what was approaching them

A large wolf stepped into Navi's light, but it did not belong to the rabbid flock from before. This wolf was something else entirely. The beast stood on its four legs as if it were a regular man standing on two in a strong, definitive demeaner; like a warrior. A peculiar mix of gray and _green_ fur covered this proud beast from tail to head, the forefront of which amazed Link the most. A handsome dark green mane garlanded around its neck leading to his face, of which was a defined snout and two hazel green eyes. Link found himself lost for words as if he were looking into a mirror in the wolf's eyes. Link wanted to reach out and touch its mane, he wanted to know what this creature was.

Then, like smoke, the wolf vanished.

Link stepped out into the dark, trying to step in place of where the wolf stood, to see if it had moved away. If it did, it went very far. The wolf was gone.

"What was... _that_?" Navi gasped.

Link shook his head. He had no words to say.

"...well... whatever that wolf was, it scared the rest of them away like it were a ghost. I'd say they are gone for good, but... I dunno..."

Link's right hand felt cold, fresh with sweat. He listened for any more stranger voices or sounds to emanate in the area around him, but found nothing.

Link said he could finish being sentinel for the rest of the night, to which Navi thanked him for. As soon as she fell asleep, Link's mind retraced back to when he first heard that voice. Did he actually hear it, or was it in his head? _Why_ did he hear it? He wished he could meet that wolf again, and thank it for saving his life.

But, Hyrule was getting strange before Link had even met the first Hylian.

* * *

The next morning, Link and Navi scanned the area. Two wolves lay dead in the grass while blood scattered elsewhere on the battlesite.

"Well!" Navi said. "That green wolf did you a favor."

Link nodded, saying he was glad he did not have to fight wolves.

"Well, I was talking about the dead wolves," she said. "You don't have to hunt rabbits quite yet."

* * *

Link made a fire as Navi explained how to skin the wolves. Link felt less guilty about preparing these beasts for food considering _their_ intentions for him previously. Had it not been for that green wolf, it would have been a choice between living and dying: him or them.

"This may sound crass, but," Navi said; "you mortals rarely hate the taste of meat."

Taking that advice in mind as the skinned wolves roasted over the fire, the smell of smoke and dissolving fat seemed to envigorate Link. His belly rumbled a bit. Once they were done, Link cut up the two bodies into bits and portions to conserve, but he had to taste them to make sure they were worth it.

At first, it startled him. It tasted dry and kind of hurt to chew, but after a mouthful he was eager to try another bite. He had several mouthfuls after that. Navi was pleased.

Link asked how anyone could eat a _rabbit_ over a wolf. Rabbits were small, cuddly and innocent. Wolves were evil and only wanted to hurt others.

"Link," said Navi; "every animal is driven by a single task: survive. Each creature does it their way. Rabbits survive by hiding from wolves. Wolves survive by eating rabbits."

Link asked if anything kept the wolves from eating all the rabbits.

"Each other," said Navi; "if there's nothing to eat, they eat the weakest."

Link wow'd. He inquired if that was because it was a live or die choice.

"Exactly," said Navi; "and that choice is gonna happen to you a _lot_ on this journey. You better believe it. And when you do come to that choice, you'll know what to do. The choice'll come at you like a calling, because, like all other creatures, you have to survive somehow."

At that note, Link looked off into the wilderness with a wolf's leg in his mouth as he remembered that green wolf and his howl, and how it had spared him from making that terrifying life or death choice. He wondered how often, how much, and how such a creature survived in a wild world.


	9. On Bad Footing

**Chapter 9  
**

**On Bad Footing**

After camp, Link and Navi set forth. This time, however, Navi decided to scout on ahead:

"Don't worry, I'll be back," she said without giving Link a chance to speak. With a wild flutter of her wings, a tingling ring emanated and increased in volume, and then _fwoosh_ the fairy darted through the air like a shooting star, leaving the boy aimlessly in the middle of the grassland. Within seconds she became a small orb of flickering light and then vanished.

Link stood, with his heavy pack, waiting. Not much to do except wait. He took a gander at the overhead sky which had cleared up. His attention turned to the great orb that was called the sun, or how Navi called it _Calar._

As much as his experience with words for describing terrain was few if not scarce, he figured by his own personal opinion that the area was still flat until so far away where Navi had gone, at which point the terrain bulged and raised into small hillocks.

Then, a flicker appeared on the horizon, and _vweeeeeeeeEEEEEINNNgg_ the fairy had returned, panting. "Well… well… there's a town… oh gods, I'm old… you shut it, boy, I'm just outta prac… outta practice… _whew_, okay… just over those hills a mile away is the road. Yes, then we turn east and carry on from there."

So onward Navi led him. As they passed over the hills, Link asked her about Calar.

"What do you want to know? What it means? Well, 'sun.' Yes, that simply. Well, _okay_, then you should have asked that. If you want to be that literal, it stands for 'that which emanates from Hai.'"

..."Oh gods, Deku told you noth—? Okay, 'Hai' is an old term used by the ancients to describe something descendent from the god Haidel, who is ruler of the stars in the sky. According to leg— ahh! There's the road."

They crested the hill and gazed down its slope which then flattened out just a dozen yards from where they stood. At its base, Link saw a long stretch of _dirt_ extending far left and far right, at the latter's extent he could see some shapes and structures. The land was less bulging on this side of the hillside and remained flat for the extent of some miles, but now tree groups infested the area in some places, mostly thin and solitary and not huge and crowded like at the Lost Woods.

"I didn't take the chance to go ahead and find out what that town's about," said Navi; "but I figure I'll do that while you're traveling. Yes, alone."

Link gazed down the road to his right to where the 'town' sat, and, wouldn't you know, he saw shapes approaching from that direction. At once his mind rushed at the excitement. _He was going to meet Outsiders_.

"Okay, calm down, boy. Just act like you're going by, don't give 'em a reason to stop and inquire. Time's not a collectable and we gotta save as much of it as we can. I'll go scout the town, you just… keep walking and just go on by. Well, if strangers stop to talk, politely refuse. How? I don't know, tell them to _maj_ off if that's what it takes!" and then darted atop the hillside towards the village.

Link was, again, by himself. _Well, at least I know she'll come back. Yeah, I got this._ And then he took a step down. But just as he did, his other foot slipped on a dislodging piece of earth which then caused him to fall and roll down the hill. Down and down, and then rebounded in the air for a few seconds—he swore it was feet—before plummeting right down at the side of the road.

And all he could think was: _Darn, I'm glad the pack broke my fall._ But, his body ached and hurt all over, and he felt a discomforting pain in his right ankle that, as he tried to get up, it hurt just to try and get on his feet, and was made worse by his pack. Flipping his locks and releasing the pack helped, but after finally getting on his feet he was still in torrid pain with his right ankle. _Any_ pressure was almost unbearable, except that the pain in the back of his head seemed to dull it.

"_Wooooah there _Gabby; 'ey boy!" cried a thick voice.

Just then he looked up, and he saw the shapes now coming towards him at a faster pace. As it drew near, Link realized that it was a wheeled structure with fences around the edges and drawn by a big, four-legged, brown-furred creature with a long maw and pointed ears. To Link's recollection from stories, this was a 'horse' that the Outsiders used to pull 'carts,' which were used to carry objects of many sizes and numbers.

Now, at the front of the cart was a seat, and seated was a tall kokiri with a flat wool cap and a piece of wood sticking out of his mouth— not, not a kokiri, this person had to have been twice a kokiri's height. He wore little clothing, covered only by a set of trousers that went from his chest and down to his boots, and was held up by a pair of suspenders that wrapped over the person's shoulders. Out of both the wooden thing and the man's mouth puffed billows of thick smoke. The person's face resembled that of a gnarled tree, wrinkled and twisted. This was an 'old man.'

"You good?" the old man asked. "I saw ya tumbled and I figured ye kud use some assissence."

Link's mind stopped tracking after _tumbled_, and did not know what to say.

The old man then took his pipe out of his mouth and puffed, eying the boy up and down. "Well? You good? You dun look like ya walkin' down the road wit dat foot, boy, lest ye go elsewherr."

Link simply nodded, his foot raised from the ground tensely.

"Shucks, I'm s'posed to be gone to Bilton… oy! Come— hop up 'ere and I take ye wid me, you and yer pack— …'scuse me? Lokey, no, I ain't goin' back to Ordon, you comin' wid me to Bilton, I get the local doc to see ye."

Link glanced at the town that Navi had gone to, the town of Ordon, and then down the road to his left. The road just seemed to keep on going that way, and yet Ordon was just right there to his right. Link begged to be taken to Ordon.

"If ye wanna make m'late for supper just 'cuz you dun' wanna ride with a stranger like me, then I tell ye to go to darkspawnnin' holes!" and then he shook his reigns and got the cart moving. Link could hear him mutter under his breath, "Dumb _hont_."

Link, hopping on one foot, tried calling after the old man to turn back, but the man persisted down the road without even acknowledging him. The afternoon was now turning into evening.

Unable to carry the pack with his foot as it was, Link regretted his decision. At least he'd be moving. However, he wondered how Navi would find him. _I got the emerald, and maybe Navi can sense it. Can she? I don't know_. He tried lifting the pack, but it was still so heavy and his foot hurt, that he kept dropping it in frustration. He even mindlessly kicked it and received a jolt of horrible, evil sensations up his entire leg. After the pain finally dumbed down, he wiped his face of tears from crying and he carefully sat down next to his ruck. There was nothing he could do.

It was now evening. And then Navi returned.

"The lokey you doing here? I've been waiting—… you what?" Link told her what happened, but then explained that he tried to move and he couldn't carry his ruck.

"Yes you can, buddy."

An awkward silence occurred and neither did anything. Link did not know if she was joking or not. Then the fairy started slamming herself into his face repeatedly.

"Move it, kiddo! We're not wasting anymore time. _Yes you _can _carry your ruck_: use your creativity and pick the darn thing up!"

Finally Link started moving. He rolled his ruck back over so that the straps were accessible, and then he slid his arms in so that he was lying on top of it with the straps over his shoulders. Then he rolled onto his stomach, carefully to avoid using his bad foot, and then, using what strength he had, pushed himself up onto his hands and foot. Then, grunting tiredly and feeling his arms lose strength, he quickly set his good foot down in front of him, and then with one quick effort he pushed himself up and onto his foot. His ruck swayed him sideways as he got up, but he was able to hop himself into balance again, and so was standing on one foot with his ruck on.

"Well done!" Navi said, happily. "Now move."

The evening drew on as Link hobbled his way down to the town of Ordon. Navi decided to rest on his shoulder, saying she has spent a lot of energy flying.

* * *

On the outskirts of the town Link saw long fields of organized rows of vegetation and crops where farmers presently worked. Farmers were mainly men, although Link saw a woman working amongst them. The men weren't as gnarly as the old man, and some had hair growing on their faces.

As Link approached the outskirts, he could see people oogling him from afar. He figured if he saw an Outsider enter Kokiri Village one day, hobbling on a foot, he would also inquire. These people simply stared, giving Link an unwelcomed feeling.

Now nearing the first buildings, he got to examine how different they were from Kokiri treehouses. Instead of being built into trees, these looked like they were made right out of white, dry dirt. Somehow, they seemed incredibly solid, standing firm and not melting under the sun at all. These structures were mostly one-storied, but few had another level on top. Doorways were made out of wood planks and set above raised platforms which were also made of wood, with a wooden overhang built overhead with columns supporting them.

Aside from the farmers in the fields, not much was going on within town, aside from some people on the porch, sweeping them or seated on a rocking chair sucking on a wooden pipe that billowed smoke. They also stared at Link in curiosity.

Midway into town the road forked in the midst of a circular area in the town. To Link's left stood a tall, stone building with a golden triangle emblazed on the side of the tower, just below an encasement wherein a square object hung.

Just then, Navi, underneath his cap, whispered: "Ask someone for directions."

Looking about, the only people he saw were on their porches— then he saw someone step out of a house to his left. Immediately he called his attention.

The stranger turned around. This man wore a full jacket, long trousers and brown hair upon his face. All around his arm he wore a knotted, bright-blue chord that had offshoots which twirled and carried small, shiny ringlets. He generally looked displeased with something. "Nyeh?" he asked. "Watcha want?"

Navi whispered: "Ask for Flaba."

Link blinked. _He's in Fairyn_, he thought. So instead he asked which road led to that town.

"Lookin' for your parents?" he asked. Link shook his head. "So where are they?" then then man took a look up and down. "Ya either not from here, or your parents don't care _what_ you wear. Say, are you a forest kid?" Link nodded. "What ya doin' all the way here, boy? Are you even _allowed _to leave, uhhh… where are you from?"

"Don't tell him the Lost Woods!" Navi said, _just as Link told him._

"Okay, that's funny," the man said grinning. "But seriously, where?" Link drew a blank. And Navi couldn't think of anything to say.

"Well?" the man said, impatiently. "Holoak? Tarm?"

Link nodded.

"…_so which is it?_" Link told him Holoak. "You are a _long_ way from home…"

To Link's left, out of the building the man came out of, he saw another, smaller and younger man watching on. He, too, wore a similar chord but with less ringlets. The man looked curious, but seemed anxiously unsure about what to do. His friend nearby seemed to be distracting him a little with conversation.

"By the looks of that pack and the lack of company, seem to be hightailin' somewhere," the man said; "and it's about near dark, and the world outside ain't safe. Well? Got any friends?"

Link told him a man named Flaba was supposed to meet him here.

"Flaba? That blacksmith from Fairyn? I didn't think he had any business in this town, or I'd'uh known such." Link made a nod to confirm it was so. The man glared at him. "Either way, I'm takin' you in for your protection," and then he grabbed Link by the arm and started pulling him away.

"Kick him 'tween the legs, Link!" whispered Navi. Link asked, "What?" Navi said: "Hard!" But when he looked at the man and considered it, Link felt afraid. He had been led some ways down the road that forked left, towards a building with barred windows.

"Oh for…!" he heard Navi say, and then _swishSMACK!_ Navi flew out of Link's cap and slammed herself right into the man's face, who then doubled over backwards and fell.

"Go, Link!" she yelled at him.

"The _Lokey _is that?" gasped the man, wiping blood off his face.

"Just go!" the fairy said, smacking herself into the man's face again.

All around Link, townsfolk were watching on in surprise, their eyes wide open and jaws hanging. Then the young fellow at the building made a run towards him.

Link started hobbling very vigorously down the road, but the young man seemed to be gaining headway. Then Navi intercepted and repeatedly smacked him before the man fell back. Just as the previous man began to get up, Navi zipped across his face and propelled him back to the ground.

"Go, darnit!" she said, rebounding back to beat down the younger man.

Link then proceeded to hobble even further. Some men tried to stop him on his way out, but Navi came and smacked them in the face. Then, a young boy his age came at him from the side, tackling him to the ground. As they struggled, Link ran his hurt foot into the boy's knee (intending to go between the legs), thereby creating more harm towards himself than intended. The boys then wrestled, Link trying to escape while the other kept grabbing at him and pulling him back.

"Sheriff! Sheriff! I got him!" the boy exclaimed.

Navi arrived, but was already tired and panting for breath. Link could see the other men running up from behind her.

"Hold your breath, Link!" she said between breaths. Even while wrestling, Link shut his mouth tight, for then Navi threw a strange, sparkling dust right at the boy wrestling with Link, who then started sneezing uncontrollably and loosened his control over the lad. Link broke free and stumbled back onto his feet.

"What about them?" Link yelped as he hobbled, looking back to the men chasing.

"Quit letting that flutterby play with you!" the sheriff yelled, blood running down his chin, running towards Link and Navi.

"Just keep running! I'll catch up!" she said. Navi then darted towards the men. They started grabbing at her and missing, often going to great extent to try and catch her while she danced all over them. Here and there she tossed more dust at them which had the varied effects of causing sneezing, coughing, and pained convulsions. She kept causing so much trouble that they were more determined to catch her than anything else in the world.

She got them so worked up that they completed forgot about Link, who hobbled his way out of town. It seemed the whole town was more interested in Navi.

* * *

Night approached when Link finally started to walk. He was so tired and beat. His leg had a great cramp from being the only support for walking, and the pain in his foot still annoyed him. The road led him closer to more hills and forested areas. He felt more secure here than in the flat grasslands, even when so alone. The stars came out after a while, and the moon shone with only a quarter of her face to the earth. Otherwise, Link could not see much else.

He took a seat in the woodline off to the side of the road. The trees were tall and thin and their canopy covered the majority of the skyline from Link's view. The ground was mainly dirt and laden with leaves and kindling. Link staved off of making a fire and cooking supper. He was hungry, but he did not want anything other than Navi finding him in the dark. Fairies have the ability to find their wards by some magic. As Deku put it, _Even beyond the Veil, your fairy will find you_.

In honesty, all that happened caused Link to sit in meditation. He hurt his foot, his first Outsider was an ornery old man, he visited his first Outsider town, saw Outsiders, and then got chased out of a town down a road he was unsure was the _right road_. It wasn't a stroll of a day.

An owl hooted in the dark, and Link's ears perked at the hopes of it being that Kaepora Gaebora. "Kaepora?" he called out, but got no reply. He called out louder (feeling somewhat scared doing so), and still got no reply. It was just an owl. At least not a wolf.

Then he saw Navi's aura fluttering as she came by. She came into the woodline and found Link almost as if she knew where he sat. As she found him, though, she was panting heavily and she fell down in Link's lap.

Right then and there, they both fell asleep without supper.


	10. Talon and Ingo

**Talon and Ingo**

The next morning brought a chill wind from the south. The lad, shivering incessantly, reached for the sleeve of his blanket, as was used to in his home, but grasped only his own sleeve. Disappointed, he rolled over for the sun to beam on his backside, and then there was a muffled scream. Perked to surprise, Link rolled back on over to release his guardian fairy from bodily captivity underneath him, and then received a nasty smack on the nose for nearly crushing her. "It's time to be up, anyway," she grumbled angrily.

Now with daylight's grace his present environment was observable for memory. In the night he had hobbled into a forested path well maintained through constant traffic, as the hoof marks and wheel tread-lines had indicated through use. The canopy was thick to block Din's Eye from peeking through. Her rays' absence allowed the bitter wind no recompense for the cruel breezes that swept through. Link shivered.

"Get your cloak," said Navi, and Link obeyed. He still shivered and stumbled here and there over his aching foot as they proceeded through the forest. It was much more pleasant than the Lost Woods, that was for sure. Soon Din's Eye bore light enough to emanate the depths of the woodline, and its critters were visible from the road: cute, furry critters for the most part. Rabbits, deer and other game.

"Walking hurts, Navi," the boy said; "what do you get to whine about?"

"I can get hurt, boy," she said. "Just like you."

"Not that I ever see it: you must be immortal, you dern liar."

"Lie? Ha, hardly. If I hadn't woken that soon, you would have crushed my wings. You must be careful! I am like a graceful but tender butterfly."

Amid his grunts, Link spoke lowly: "Yet your 'tude is a bee sting."

"By the way, Link, take your canteen and wash your face: some of my _gimti_ got on you. If you're not careful you may fall ill from it."

"Want to wash it for me?"

"Your fingers bear spirit: make them work your front!"

Night came and Link made camp while Navi scouted ahead. By the time she returned, the boy was struggling to sleep: his foot troubled him. "Here," said Navi, and she landed next to his leg and bade him to take off his boot. His effort was labored and slow, but eventually he discarded the boot to the side and let his feet breathe freely. "Seriously, no socks?" gasped Navi.

"I have to wash them, you know."

"Your logic is astounding, boy— how do you survive?"

"…what?"

"OF COURSE YOU HAVE TO WASH THEM. Gods, boy, did you learn discipline from frogs?"

"Shut up."

Navi smacked him across the face. "You watch your mouth, Link. That is _not_ proper towards anyone." And then she fluttered back to his bare foot.

Rubbing his face, Link made no comment, simply laying back on his rucksack. Navi laid her hands upon his calf and eventually a warm sensation built up there which proceeded to coarse up and down his lower calf, as if warm water had been inserted into his foot that had started moving inside his leg. Each time it moved Link felt better, and soon felt lulled to sleep. When he eventually did, Navi then spent time to undo his other boot and let his foot breathe air again. She then nestled on his chest and fell asleep underneath his chin.

* * *

After they dismantled camp that morning they continued northward. Link said nothing of finding his other boot being undone, and this put Navi off. For the better portion of the morning, she remained silent in hopes that Link would warm up to the task; but, when he did not by the time Din's Eye rose above, she could not retain herself.

"Seriously?!" she barked, fluttering right in front of his face.

"What?" he spurted-

"I do your boots for you, scout the route ahead, I scare away the lesser creatures— and you say nothing in gratitude?" she spoke.

"…..I… um…"

"Link. I travel with you as is in line with my master's wishes. I am still with you for you are but a small child in the world, and if not for me you would be chewn asunder as the shroud of Hathindo. But for all my charity, I am not an _asitaci_ monk: it is not for spirit, _IT'S FOR THE FUTURE OF OUR HOME_. So, for the love of that which is judge of all the world, which beholds the greatest of all wisdom, _I DESERVE A SMIDGEN OF GRATITUDE!_ So quit—"

"Alright, alright, alright!" Link begged.

"No, no! _You_ shut it lad. Shut it. Now, you had better start pulling some weight on this journey, or else I will leave you to your sores. I may even leave you to illness from the world. You understand?"

Link did not understand: he was carrying the rucksack, the weapon, and the Emerald. He was that the one older folk—well, anyone—talked to and assaulted. Navi simply just hit underneath his cap and— _well, she does tell me what to say._ But even then, he felt ungrateful for the fact that _he_ still had to do the talking itself. And the walking and carrying.

But unsure of what to say, Link simply nodded and agreed.

"Alright?" Navi said. "Alright. Well, the village is a little bit farther. With your foot, we'll be in town before nightfall."

And onwards they went.

* * *

By the afternoon they had left the forest and come to open hillands again, which had led them around inclinations that snaked towards the north. Soon the skies purpled with the coming of evening and so had their destination. The wind from the morning persisted, and Link's knees wobbled as he shivered. The town was more developed than the previous with structured buildings out of lumber. A tall picket fence encircled this establishment, with the road leading in the village with a common man and a spear equipped in hand. He was middle-aged and bore only a set of shoulder pads and a leather helm: otherwise, he looked like one of the farmers impersonating a soldier. As the boy approached the entry point, the guard intercepted him with an open palm halting his proceeding: "Oy, who comes hinter?"

"My name is Link. I am here to meet Flaba the Smithy? I have a paper for him." During their journey, Navi had told him to use that as a reason to enter a town: 'Even if he's not there, the town _should_ feel obligated to find you a place to stay because you're just a lad. Hopefully." _Hopefully_ they had come to the right town!

"No one I know of that name, boy. What's this, you campin' or just lost?" said the man.

"Unfortunately I am lost," he said, under Navi's direction. He shook feverishly. "And my home is so far. Can, can I get a place to s-stay?"

The man paused to think a moment. "Hrm… well, you should find the farm on the other side of town. You have money? Ahh, phooey, here's a two-er," and he gave the boy what were two blue rupees, two gemstones each the size of his thumb smooth and cold to the touch. By their feel, they had been carved and fashioned to bear edges and design.

"I was gonna grab me a brew, but I figure a lad could use a shelter. It may not be a room at the Lon Lon, but maybe the farmer will be kind. Business is slow, so you might be a light in dark for him. Well, get on, now."

Link passed through the quiet town watching people sitting in rockers upon their porches sharing gossip and stories from the day: men and women alike, while the children played in front of them. It was a nicer town than before, and Link was at ease.

The stars sparkled in the heavens and Nayru shone within her orbit by the time Link came to the edge of town. Quite a walk away from town, the ranch was nestled on the outcrop of a hill on an outlet path leading away from the main road. At the top was a farmhouse with a red-paneled roof, a one-leveled barn, aged and grey in the wood, positioned across from the house, and an fenced pasture with a windmill to its side.

Link beat upon the door of the house twice to no avail. After another set of knocks, he heard stumbling from the other side, and then the door swung open to reveal a foul scent. It made Link cringe and his nose felt on fire. Despite the smell, he could feel the warmth of the fire from within the house.

The man at the door was but a tad taller than Link, but was larger around the waist. Bald at the head and with a brown beard half-braided and flourishing untidily upon his chest was dripping with some clear liquid. A strap of his overalls was unhooked and dangling as he moved, and his obtuse nose was uncannily red. The man gripped a bottle in his free hand as he leaned on the open door. The man seemed to have lost any control of his legs, for they sometimes kept him up and other times left his command.

"Eyyyeh?" he slurred. "What is it, Darlyn? Ssit time for me to come home?"

"Um, sir, my name is Link, and I was—"

"'cuz she better know this…" he leaned in and beckoned Link to follow thus, like to share a secret. Link inclined, and this is what the man said: "_I'm already home._" Then there was an awkward pause as the boy felt lost for words. Then the man laughed to himself: "See, I fool her again." And then he slammed the door.

A harsh wind whistled past Link and reminded him of the chills of the wild. He knocked again feverishly. The door opened again, this time a new greeter. This was another man in overalls with one lapel unhooked. This man was lanky and tall and bore a frazzled mustache. His eyes were partly open and he leaned on the door with more care than his counterpart.

"Oye, boy, I'm sorry fer my partner's drunkenness. He is not a saint tonight. What do ye want at this hour?"

"Sir, my name is Link. I've been traveling a while and I need a place to sleep. I have money," and he presented the rupees.

The farmer gazed at the rupees for some time as if they told him a story. Then when the boy shivered, the farmer regained his senses. "Oh you been out a while, I see. And ya leanin' like that, shiftin' and all, you musta hurt yaself carrying that rock. We ain't got an extra room, 'mfraid…" then he looked over the boy and pointed past: "But we can setcha up in the barn. There's a stall with fresh hay, and we've already set up a fire…. Though, does remind me to ask 'er to check— anyway. MALON! MALON, get 'ere!"

Moments passed and then the hurried furry of footsteps thumped down the stairs lightly, stopping partway as someone leaned over the railing, a ream of bright red hair hanging over thusly. "Watcha want, Messer Ingo?"

"I'm drunk. Yer father's drunk. Poor boy needs a place to stay. I cannai find the barn."

"Not my fault you can't find yourself in the dark."

"It'll be yer fault if the lad freezes to death, and _you_ got the key to the barn."

"Alright! Alright, fine. What kinda lad issee?" the footsteps moved down the stairs and towards the door behind Messer Ingo.

"Ye tell me, girly: tho he's dressin' up like a forest kid. Talon, is it Hallow's Eve yet?"

The girl who came up beside Ingo was as young as Link. From her head a stream of crimson hair flowed down to her feet behind her. She too was in overalls, although much too large for her. They actually made her look adorable. Her pointy nose made her that much more cute if not the emerald glow in her eyes that brought up some familiarity with her within Link's mind. She carried herself tiredly as the hour was deep in the night, fatigue and sleep stifling her.

"I dunno, Ingo, I can't even find me face— I tink it ran off," mused Ingo.

"Just grab ya beard and crawl up—it can't've gone fahr," mumbled Talon.

The girl, meanwhile, was looking Link up and down. "You look queer."

"…um, what?" Link asked.

"Yer green. Little, too. You a fairy boy or in costume?"

"…yes?"

"Hmm. Well," she posted her arms akimbo for a second before smirking. "You also dirty and all. I'll call ya booger. Come with me, booger," and she grabbed a lit lantern from the shelf near the door and brushed past him. Navi giggled underneath Link's hood, repeating 'booger' tauntingly.

Inside the barn were stalls that lined with the interior walls which ran rectangular-like from the door then-on. Bales of hay were strewn all over the ground, even moreso within the vicinity wherein the beasts lived, of which caught Link's curiosity… that is until he picked up their smell. Link's face cringed as the foreign airs swathed him. When he remarked upon it, the girl looked at him sternly.

"Ain't you ever been in a farm? That's my livelihood you smellin', boy. Don't make fun of my only career opportunity."

He asked her what she meant.

"Simply put," she said as she set the lantern on a keg marked 'xxx.' "There are well-off folk, decent folk, and workin' folk. Those well-off do things with paper and ink or some sort. Decent folk get to talk to travelers and foreigners while they change hands for money and goods," she started piling clean hay into an empty stall. "My pappy and I? Well, I warn't raised in the better classes of our wonderful kingdom, so I am but destined to live in the outskirts of society to satisfy both of other;" then she pointed a finger at Link. "But heed you so, booger, that unbeknownst to many my father's business is important to this said kingdom, much so that its defense is important to it. Although a peasant, I am yet blessed that one day my hand will set my father's tradition in raising the King's Steed. Oh, you dunno what that is?"

Link shook his head.

"I'll be, you _are_ from elsewhere," she said, standing her arms akimbo at the waist. "You really a fairy child?"

Link hesitated a moment hoping Navi would emerge. He then bobbed his head a bit to prod her. "_Just tell her. I don't feel like coming out_," the fairy whispered. Link said yes.

"…really?" she said. "From the Lost Woods? How's that so?"

And so Link spent the next hour of the night explaining his story to her. At some point near the start, the girl stopped him to find some stools so they can sit. Here Link took off his rucksack and took the seat provided to him, whereupon the rancher's daughter also procured some bottles from some cupboard that, when opened, seem to expel some kind of cold mist from within. As she drew near to the light, Link saw that the bottles contained some white, thick liquid.

"Here, some Lon Lon brand milk," she said; "try it."

Unawares as to what it was in the first place, he slowly raised the bottle to his lips and imbibed it cautiously. When the taste of it entered his mouth, a shudder came from his stomach and his throat expelled the substance abruptly and he choked. The girl, bless her heart, laughed.

"Oh my!" she said; "never seen a barn nor had milk! My, my, you really are home schooled, ain'tcha?"

Link nodded, feeling a weight on his neck drawing him down.

"Oh, man, you got the sheep jumping fences there," she said. "Well here, lemme help you settle in for the night."

To the rear of the barn she collected more fresh hay and bundled them on the floor. "I'll go back to the house and grab some sheets for ya: don't go anywhere—and DON'T stir up the animals."

When she left, Link's eyes gazed down on the bundle of hay, and by his instinct he crumbled facedown onto the bed, Navi gripping his hair buds tightly and then rebounding off his head from momentum.

"_Aene boq'aydh en'Narya!"_ she cursed, smacking him on the head. "Let me know when you do that! I could have pulled—… Link?"

Link's eyes had been closed and his weariness had drifted him off to sleep.

"Meh," the fairy said. She then snuggled into Link's tunic so that the rancher's daughter wouldn't see her as she came back in.

The last thing Link remembered before falling asleep was seeing a small red animal, resting in a bed of hay but feet away.

* * *

A cuckling cry brought Link awake in a fright and onto his feet, throwing Navi about underneath his tunic in surprise.

The shriek came again, startling the boy, but now bringing his attention to its source. In a line of small, wired boxes screening the wall across the barn, were round-chested birds that _clucked _and _cuckoo'd_ while pecking at bits of kernels laid in front of their cages. In particular a cage was set apart wherein was a larger kind of these birds who bore a large tuft of feathers upon its hair and a tufted tail. It _cuckoo'd_ loudly once again.

Navi pulled herself out from within the tunic. "Well! I'm awake now. Didn't need the rooster."

Link asked what it was.

"Okay, rundown time: Those are _poultry_, Link. _Chickens_. Those are the horses, those are the swine, that's dirt, and this is a pitchfork. Good enough? Good, let's get breakfast."

He then realized that he was barefoot upon inspection, with his boots neatly placed near his rucksack placed against the wall near the door. His socks hung from a coatrack near extra pairs of overalls. His sword was still attached to the sack.

"By the way, lad," Navi continued; "we need to work on your wake-up skills."

"What?"

"Every time something makes you feel in danger, you should be reaching for your sword. First instinct. That starts now." With that, she smacked him in the face.

"What was _that_ for?!" he cried.

"I'm a danger—reach for your sword!" she smacked him again.

"Stop that!"

"DO something about it, then!"

She smacked him incessantly for about a minute while the boy tried fending her off. "Grab your sword! Grab your sword!" she kept ordering. When he finally did, she stopped.

"Good, that's a start. We'll train later."

* * *

Link was a few steps outside the barn when the farm girl came outside, wearing the same overalls.

"Ahh! Top o' the morn, boog— oh, do forgive me, I can't stray that name off my lips. What should I call you? … Link, eh? Fair 'nuff. Call me Malon. Everyone calls me that, so it's not like calling me 'booger.' Breakfast?"

She led him inside the house. The house seemed to compose itself into one single space: a kitchen, a place to eat, and a place by the fire. Rudimentary, the kitchen provided a stove and burner with a small cabinet almost like the one in the barn. A table sat in the center of the house enough for five people to eat off of. To the side where the chimney sat were two rocking chairs. A set of stairs sat to the right leading upwards to the second floor of the barnhouse.

The smell of cooked meat permeated the air unlike any Link had been accustomed to before—it was unlike the wolf he cooked in the wild. Regardless, the smell was enticing. It originated from the stove, in front of which was set a footstool.

At the table sat the two farmers, who were both clutching their heads and moaning.

"Papa, you wanted the eggs scrambled?" Malon spoke gleefuly as she strode past him into the table.

"Yeahhhh, yeah, just fine, Mally-dally," the shorter farmer said. "Just set the coffee."

"And set another one for coffee, mind ye," said the taller farmer.

"Do pardon their habit," Malon said as she ascended the footstool and peered over the pan on the stove, picking up a kitchen utensil nearby and using it to prod what was cooking. "They're hungover."

"Oh, please, make it sound so small a thang," said the shorter. "It's not like my mind has lost a few whatevers in the particulars."

"Is it all gone pappy?"

"There's some left, but I won't touch it," he said. "I am better off _dead_ today."

"Funny considerin' you need to start _packing_…"

"OH no no no, don't remind me Malon. Say, is that the 'booger lad' from last night?"

"Daddy, this is Link—Link, this here's my father Mr. Talon Batt, and my uncle Mr. Ingo Luin. Pappy owns the farm and uncle here tends to it."

"Owns it, but ye hardly clean the dern place, Talon," muttered Ingo.

"Oh Ingo…" grumbled Talon as he hid his face.

"…which reminds me to send a page for Nester. He still owes us our pitchforks for when he borrowed during the Harvestyule. Silly codger can't never repay a debt to Lon Lon Ranch. Or Cary Hunnigan."

"I thought ya already did that?" said Malon.

"…_I'm hungover, as well,_" Ingo grumbled into his palms after some meditation.

Malon simply shook her head as she scooped some contents off a hot pan frying with sauces and some butter onto four plates. "Link, my family is also my work."

"And we blessee to this day," Talon muttered as his plate was offered on the table.

"I know," Malon said, as if by habit, as she then laid Ingo's and Link's plates. She then motioned to the lad: "Come join! I'll grab some cups for juice and milk."

Link then sat at the table with the grownups as Malon returned to the pantry for said drinks. The two men paid no attention to Link as they grumbled under their breaths about business and farmlife, even though the lad himself tried to listen in. Their subjects were too "grown-up" and complex for him to understand, and yet he persisted in witnessing such words shared between them in hopes to comprehend by merit. As Malon returned, the conversation ended and Link felt himself as confused as the beginning and having not understood a single thing the two men talked about. The only thing he could understand well enough was that anything had to do with rupees and the obtaining of such currency. It was very popular, and there was emotion connected to it.

Malon's return prompted different conversation as per her talking, mainly to involve Link. "So Link, where were you from again?" she began. At no resistance from Navi, Link told the story he had told everyone else. The two men seemed to have some interest, if only to occupy their attention as they focused more on the breakfast and drinks. Then Malon prompted Link to consume what she had prepared: "Eggs, bacon and ham" she called it. As the lad consumed such things, he was amazed. It was delicious. Absolutely delicious, and he asked for more. Malon laughed and obliged, especially with the bacon (to Link's gratitude). The men asked for more bacon than the lad did, which only made him want to eat more of it as well.

"My, my!" said Malon; "have you eaten anything in the past week?"

Link shrugged; "Bits of what I've carried from home."

"I'll hafta check your stuff before ya leave," she said; "maybe set you off with more supplies to last you until… well, to where you're goin'."

"Thanks. I dunno how far Hyrule is."

"Yer in it, boy," Ingo spoke between bites.

"You mean the city, oy?" asked Talon, his eyes off his food. Link nodded.

"Could he go witcha, pa?" Malon inquired.

"I could use an extra hand on the carriage, particularly for the milk," said Talon; "what with Ingo off to town to that meetin' or sumtin."

"Which should be _your_ task, man," said Ingo; "but then again I'm doin' half the shite yar doin'."

"And I'm doin' yours, so w get fair share!" smiled Talon as he slurped up a sliver of ham. Ingo merely shook his head, as he had done so many times before.

Malon giggled, "My boys." She nudged Link. "These are my boys."

"Well if ya gonna help me, Ingo 'r Malon'll find some work for ya to do: we dun leave for a bit since the milk pots aren't all full," said Talon.

"Ever milked befahr?" said Ingo. Link shook his head. Ingo merely nodded to himself, and Talon did likewise.

"Dun worry, uncle," said Malon; "I'm sure he kud be obleeged to do some chores if I show 'im the ropes. Oh but don't let that put you off: you can do what you want, but I daresay travelin' with my paps will be safer than goin' alone. Robbers and sort take up the highway as you get closer to Hyrule City."

Navi muttered in agreement. Link nodded to agree as well; "I dunno much, tho'—"

"Happy 'nuff!" she said chirpily as he scooped up hers and Link's plates; "I'll startcha off with the cows. It'll be fun!" and scampered into the kitchen. Ingo and Talon merely left their plates on the table, cleaned of food of course, wiped their faces and then left to attend business. They started bickering as they went out the door. Malon returned and grabbed Link by the hand, whisking him out said door into new venture.


End file.
